Savior
by ChaosFallen
Summary: They say that there is nothing to fear except fear itself. But what does a ghost boy who's beaten every challenge that's come his way have to fear?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The amazing Butch Hartman owns Danny Phantom. I bow down before his greatness. 

So, let's get this story started, shall we?

* * *

"Time for you to go back to the ghost zone, Skulker!" A floating ghost-boy known as Danny Phantom yelled. He reached his arm around to his back and grabbed at thin air. His eyes widened as he muttered something, his arm searching around his back.

Down below him on the dark streets of Amity Park stood Tucker Foley, safely watching his friend as he dodged a glowing net, still patting his back.

"Hey Sam, what's wrong with Danny's back?" Tucker asked the third in the trio, Sam Manson.

"What?" Asked Sam, after looking up from digging around in her backpack.

"Danny keeps patting his ba-" Tucker cut off as Sam triumphantly pulled a green and white cylindrical object from her backpack.

"-oh." Sam grinned at him, then looked up at the moonlit sky where Danny was still frantically dodging everything Skulker was throwing at him, which seemed to consist of everything but the kitchen sink.

"Ghost boy, you will soon join all of the other strange and unique creatures in my collection!" Skulker taunted as he pulled out yet another weapon. Danny, more than a little frustrated at this point, was just powering up to blast Skulker out of the sky when he heard his name. Looking down he saw Sam waving the Fenton Thermos around.

Danny sighed, "Oh, there it is-" Hearing a blast from where Skulker was, Danny let out a small "Eep!" before he was knocked painfully out of the sky.

Smoking slightly, Danny landed roughly on the street, skidding to a halt a few feet away from Sam. He groaned as fire seemed to race across his back where the street had rubbed his skin raw.

"Danny!" Sam raced over, followed shortly by Tucker. Sam held out her hand, concern written clearly on her face.

"Thanks." Danny said as he took her hand and stood up. Danny took the Fenton Thermos that Sam offered and looked angrily into the sky. Skulker, seeing the thermos in Danny's hand, decided that he suddenly had pressing matters elsewhere. "Another day, whelp."

"Oh no you don't!" Danny growled as he saw Skulker turn tail and run. The pain in his back fading, Danny took off after Skulker's retreating form, the Fenton Thermos now safely on his back.

* * *

After a few seconds of silence, Tucker looked over at Sam and sighed. "Well, what do we do now?" Sam looked over at him, about to say something witty, when instead she looked past Tucker and gasped.

Tucker, with his stomach sinking, slowly turned around. Standing there, right next to Danny's house that the trio had been so close to reaching, stood Paulina. Hearing Tucker say something very inappropriate, Paulina tore her love-struck gaze from the sky and rested it on the two nervous looking friends.

"Sam? Tucker? Do you two losers know the ghost boy? Could you introduce me to him?" Paulina asked hopefully while running over. Tucker suddenly felt colder and wondered why until he looked over at Sam. With both her fists balled and a look that could kill on her face, Sam seemed to be struggling with herself. The words "Back off, he's mine!" and "Did you just call us losers?" chased themselves around Sam's head. Fortunately, all that came out were indignant huffs and the occasional snort.

Trying hard not to laugh, Tucker turned around to deal with the rather serious problem facing them.

"Paulina, hey, what are you doing wandering around at night?" Paulina, after giving Sam a weird look, looked Tucker up and down and then asked with big eyes, "Do you know the ghost boy, Danny Phantom?" She batted her eyelashes and smiled at Tucker.

Seeing this, Tucker straightened and, using a deeper voice, said, "Well, you know, if you really want to kno- OUCH!" He glared over at Sam who currently had her elbow lodged in Tucker's side. After glaring daggers at Tucker, Sam looked back at Paulina and calmly explained, "Of course we don't know Danny Phantom, he's a ghost. Humans don't talk to ghosts." Pouting a little, Paulina seemed to think for a minute before brightening.

"But I saw you help him up and then hand him something." Sam and Tucker exchanged nervous glances. "Now that I think of it," Paulina continued, "You guys are usually around when the ghost boy shows up. You two and Danny." As if suddenly remembering that Danny Fenton did actually exist, Paulina looked around. "Where is Danny anyway, doesn't he usually hang around with you losers?"

* * *

Danny was, at the moment, still chasing down Skulker. _Stupid 'ghost zone's greatest hunter.'_ He thought, mimicking Skulkers voice in his head._ Doesn't he know that I have a paper due tomorrow!_ Danny's mood sank at the thought. Sighing in frustration, he tried a different tactic.

"Hey Skulker! Why don't you come back here and fight me! Aren't you supposed to be the ghost zone's greatest hunter?"

"I choose my battle's wisely, whelp!" Skulker shot back. Danny frowned, _Damn! I thought that would work!_ His thoughts wandering once again to his suffering grades, Danny willed himself to go faster. _Come on, just a little bit more…_ Skulker looked back to see Danny several feet behind him. Seeing the look of surprise on Skulker's face, Danny grinned.

Skulker had one more trick up his sleeve, however, as he pushed a button on his arm and another set of rockets appeared on his back.

"Oh come on!" Danny complained as Skulker easily sped away. _Great, there goes another night of studying._ Sighing and feeling worse then before, Danny turned around and headed back to where he left Sam and Tucker.

* * *

"And if you think that you can just waltz right up to us, calling us losers, and expect us to help you in any way," Sam took a deep breath before continuing her rant. Tucker sighed and rolled his eyes. Yeah, Paulina was rather annoying, especially calling him and his friends losers. But certain traits of hers made up for it, he thought with a grin as he looked back at Paulina, the light from the moon glowing in her hair. Still looking stunned from Sam's outburst, Paulina stood slack jawed and dazed looking, Sam's stream of almost incoherent words washing over her.

Thinking of some good pick up lines (by Tuckers standards) Tucker moved his dreamy gaze to the stars. Noticing a white streak, Tucker's eyes followed it absentmindedly as it fell down into the Fenton's house. Finally realizing what, or who, it was, Tucker interupted Sam.

"And final-"

"Hey Sam?" Sam looked around at Tucker; her finger still held about three inches from Paulina's face.

"I think our friend Danny just got home."

"What? …oh, OH! Right." Grabbing Tucker's arm, Sam gave Paulina a final glare before marching up to the Fenton's door. After opening it without knocking, Sam disappeared inside, dragging Tucker behind her. The door slammed shut leaving Paulina standing in the street, even more confused then before. "I didn't see Danny come home…"

* * *

Down in the lab, Danny was releasing what ghosts he had managed to catch on his nightly patrol back into the ghost zone. Still frustrated by Skulker's escape, he glared at nothing in particular while imagining what he would do to Skulker the next time he saw him. "I'll rip his stupid rockets right off, that's what I'll do." He muttered, glaring at his white-gloved hands.

"Danny? Is that you?" Danny whirled around, his eyes darting about looking for a place to hide.

"M-mom! Don't come down here! I-I'm, uh, I'm…" He finished lamely as Sam and Tucker appeared on the stairs. "…oh."

Tucker grinned, about to crack a joke, when Sam interrupted. "Do I really sound like your mom?" She placed her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at Danny.

"Uh, um…" Danny stuttered nervously.

Tucker couldn't hold it anymore, he burst out laughing. Both Danny and Sam glared at him.

"So, did you get Skulker?" Sam asked, glancing over as Tucker swallowed his laughter.

"No." Danny bit out, "He was too fast, I couldn't catch him."

Tucker seemed to finally notice how frustrated Danny was. Not to mention how Sam still seemed to be angry that the world didn't grant her wish and smite Paulina off of the side of the earth (Tucker looked around quickly to make sure Desiree wasn't lurking in a corner). So, with a flashy grin, Tucker spoke up.

"Y'know what you two need?" He got two shadowed glares in response. "Some good ol' scary movies."

* * *

ChaosFallen: Scary movies! Ha, crazy Tucker. Shakes head Anyway, next chapter I introduce a character of my own creation! Yes! I will actually own something besides the plot and, y'know, basic story that I'm making here. Oh, and review please! Anything ya want to throw at me. I could use any suggestion, I'm kinda new at this whole writing thing. 


	2. Chapter 2

Secret Weapons premeres tonight! Two new episodes in one week! Man, it must be Christmas.

Disclaimer: (Looks around for Desiree) Darnit! Still owned by Butch. Now where's that lamp I found...

Thanks to my one reviewer, thesleepwarrior! I'm glad you liked the first chapter so much! Hope this one is just as good.

So, onward with the second chapter! Hi ho!

* * *

Danny sat relaxed on the couch surrounded by his two best friends. They had already made it through Signs, which Danny didn't think was that scary, and Sam was now digging out The Ring while Tucker got up to go get more refreshments.

"Just you wait, Danny, Signs is nothing compared to The Ring."

"Sam, I fight ghosts. I'm not going to be scared by some cheesy movie." Sam looked back and grinned mischievously at Danny. Feeling a little unnerved, Danny continued, "I mean, it's just a movie, it's not real"

"Yeah Danny, just like ghosts." Sam smiled back at Danny's frown, laughter in her eyes.

Tucker entered the tv room, his arms overflowing with snacks. "Ok, now that's scary." Sam said, looking at the mounds of candy and pop that Tucker was planning on eating.

"What?" Tucker asked.

_Ok, Sam's mood was lifted, now for Danny._

Sam sat down on the corner of the couch with the remote in hand. On the other end sat Danny, staring at Sam. Tucker grinned suddenly.

"Hey Danny, mind scooting over? I need somewhere to put my drink…s." Danny glanced up, then down at the table he was sitting next to. "Sure." He said as he moved over next to Sam. Tucker sat down and relaxed, his job done. Sam turned on the movie.

About halfway into the movie, Sam and Danny had moved closer to each other, both pretending not to be scared. "I-I can't take it anymore." The screen flashed white as one of the characters electrocuted himself. Danny moved closer to Sam, glancing over at her. Sam's eyes were glued to the screen, her mouth halfway open. Danny quickly looked back. "Oh my God!" The main character screamed as it showed the man's dead face. Both Sam and Danny flinched.

"Sweet!" Tucker yelled, and then proceeded to stuff his mouth with popcorn.

It was almost the end of the movie, and Sam and Danny were practically sitting on each other. Both gasped as the horror of the film climbed out of a well and zombie walked towards her prey. "N-no!" A man yelled as he tried to get away from the creepy little girl. Stopping, the girl lifted her head and her hair fell back to reveal her face. "Aaaah!" The music building, the girl began to walk towards the guy, who was frozen with fear. Sam looked away and hid her face in Danny's chest as the guy screamed one final time. Danny, who suddenly didn't feel so scared, looked down at Sam and smiled.

The end of the movie passed and the whole group let out a sigh. Tucker looked over at Danny and Sam, who were still sitting comfortably in each other's arms. Both Sam and Danny noticed his look and stood up quickly, blushing furiously. "Uh, I'll get the movie out." Sam said, watching the floor as she moved towards the tv. "And I'll, um…" Danny looked around, ignoring Tucker's knowing look, "I'll…" He was interrupted as a blue mist flowed out of his mouth. Tucker immediately jumped up and looked around. "It's in the lab!" Danny yelled, watching the blue mist float down.

"Right, I'll get the thermos and meet you down there"

Danny nodded, once again appreciating what good friends he had. As Danny phased through the floor, Sam looked around, confused.

"What just...?"

"Ghost, in the lab." Tucker explained as he tried to remember where Danny had put the thermos last. Spotting it, Tucker ran to grab it as he heard muffled noises from below.

"Tucker, where're Danny's parents?" Sam asked, looking around nervously.

"I don't know, I haven't seen them all night." Tucker ran over to the stairs to the lab, "I've got this covered, you stay here and watch for his parents." Sam nodded, looking determined as Tucker ran down to the lab.

* * *

Danny phased down, entering the lab and looking around as he changed into Danny Phantom. He prepared himself for the worst; Walker, Pariah, Vlad… or even the creepy girl from the movie. Danny gulped. 

"Beware!"

Danny smacked his forehead, "Oh you have got to be kidding me"

"I am not one to kid, ghost boy!" The Box Ghost yelled, floating up and waving his arms menacingly. "For now, you shall face the corregated wrath of-" BAM! The Box Ghost went flying backwards, Danny's fist where the ghost's head used to be.

"Maybe you should-" Danny never got to finish his sentence as another wisp of smoke left his mouth. The Ghost Portal shimmered forboadingly as both Danny and the Box Ghost watched it, their breath held.

A pale hand broke through the green of the portal, closely followed by a floating girl. She stopped, framed by the portal and looked around curiously.

The Box Ghost gulped, and with a parting "Beware!" flew through the ceiling, probably headed towards a shipping store.

Danny looked the new ghost over cautiously. She floated in front of the ghost portal, calmly looking around at her surroundings. Danny swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat, suddenly feeling like he usually did whenever Paulina was around. She had brittle black hair and a pale face, but she suddenly seemed like the most beautiful ghost Danny had ever seen. Straightening her singed black dress, she gazed up at Danny with intense golden eyes.

Danny instantly forgot all about Paulina.

Smiling serenely, she floated up to where he stood awe-struck. "You are Danny Phantom, are you not?" She asked, her soft voice flowing around Danny's head. He nodded dumbly, his mouth open slightly. His whole body relaxed, Danny smiled blissfully. She smiled back at him, thinking this would be easier that she originally thought.

"You're eyes," Danny murmured, "They're so… beautiful." He stared at her, his mouth slightly open. Golden eyes gazed back at him in triumph. The lab faded away as she filled his vision. He sighed happily.

_I should prove how much she means to me._ The thought floated through Danny's otherwise empty head. The need to prove himself overwhelmed Danny as crazy thoughts filled his head._ I should give up my friends for her, no, I should give up everything for her!_ Danny blinked, realizing something. _Wait, I don't have any friends… do I?_

She smiled at him, and his mind emptied once again.

_She is my friend, my only friend._ He smiled stupidly at her, she smiled back. _She is everything…_

Something in the back of Danny's mind struggled. He hadthat naggingfeeling that he was forgetting something important. Danny shook his head in confusion. Something… purple. Danny shut his eyes in frustration, trying to remember. But the golden eyes pervaded his thoughts. Suddenly, a pair of purple eyes replaced the golden ones.

"Purple…" Danny murmered, words on the tip of his tounge. _Purple… wait, I remember!_

"Sam!" He remembered now! The room swam back into focus as his life came flooding back; his memories, his hopes, his dreams, his friends…_ Sam_.

Danny looked up in triumph, realizing with a shiver what had almost just happened.

Everything was back to normal. Danny looked around at the familiar lab, reality sinking back in. Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Danny looked back to see the girl, her golden eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Eep!" Danny ducked as she seemed to grow in front of him, a coldness spreading throughout the room.

"Danny!" Danny looked down to see Tucker arrive shivering at the bottom of the stairs with the Fenton Thermos in hand.

"Tucker! Don't look at her eyes!"

"What?" He glanced up. "Golden…" He mumbled, a silly smile spread across his face.

"Damnit Tucker!" Danny looked back at the ghost. She looked up from Tucker, her golden eyes blank, her emotions hidden.

"Tucker," The ghost spoke, her eyesregardingDanny calmly."Trap Danny in that device in your hands." She said with a slight grin, watching the color drain from Danny's face.

"No!" Danny yelled as he heard the Fenton Thermos charge up.

* * *

Back upstairs, Sam paced nervously back and forth in front of the stairwell. After all of the commotion and yelling that had been going on for a while, this new silence really scared her. She reminded herself that Danny had done this a million times before, he could take care of himself… right? 

Sam stopped her pacing as she heard a yell come up from below. It sounded like Tucker.

She sighed. Good, he must be helping Danny fight. She continued pacing again, wondering if she should go down and help.

"Oh, but I get the exciting job of looking out for Danny's parents." Sam grumbled at the floor. Glancing around, she frowned. Danny's parents were probably at some ghost convention or something. Jazz, heh, Jazz was probably at the library.

Sam heard the distinct sound of the Fenton Thermos powering up. She sighed in relief; they had caught the ghost. Another sound reached her ears and her heart almost stopped. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! Turning around, Sam raced down the stairwell.

Her heart pounding in her throat, Sam desperately willed her legs to go faster as her mind echoed with Danny's terrified voice.

* * *

Danny looked at his friend in horror as Tucker pointed the thermos at him and, with an insane grin on his face, blasted the beam straight at Danny. Coming out of a daze, Danny dodged the beam and headed towards the golden eyed ghost, the beam following him as he went. 

His mind kicking back in to hard drive, Danny yelled furiously "Dodge this, creep!" Golden eyes smirked, watching the beam as it followed Danny closer to her.

_Something's wrong…_A little voice in Danny's head whispered. Danny blinked asthe ghostsuddenly disappeared. Stopping and looking around angrily, Danny forgot one crucial little detail; the beam that had been following right on his tail.

He gasped as his whole body tingled, surrounded by piercing blue light. Terror gripped his heart as he realized what was happening.

_Tucker…_ Closing his eyes, Danny screamed out, "Tucker, get a hold of yourself! Don't do this! Tucker you can beat her! Please, stop!" He pleaded, losing hope with every inch he was dragged backwards.

Deciding to save his breath, Danny struggled against the pull of the beam, willing his body to go forward.

Suddenly, he stopped. Opening up his eyes, his vision was filled with two golden orbs.

_She… she's holding me back?_

"Why…?" He asked.

"I have a question for you," She whispered, her face tinted by the blue light. Danny stared at her. She pulled Danny closer, searching his eyes. Instead of seeing her gold eyes reflected in his, she saw the reflection of two purple eyes staring defiantly back at her. Hiding the disappointment that she felt wash over her, she continued, her plan unhindered.

"Can the infamous Danny Phantom save himself? Or only the lives of others." She asked, her eyes reflecting red. Feeling her hand loosen, Danny struggled, reaching to grab her arm. She let go, her eyes watching his as Danny felt the beam take hold of him again.

Danny screamed as the room blurred and he was pulled backwards.

"Danny!" Sam's voice cut through. _Sam?_

The blue light disappeared and Danny stopped once again, looking back.

Sam stood over a dazed looking Tucker, her eyes hardening as she looked past Danny. Danny turned around to see the golden eyed ghost shrug, her eyes finding Danny's. With one last glance, she seemed to study Danny for a minute. Apparently satisfied, she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

More then a little unnerved, Danny looked back at his two best friends. Sam was helping Tucker up while yelling at him about losing his mind. Tucker still looked rather dazed and kept rubbing his head.

Danny's gaze was drawn to the Fenton Thermos held safely in Sam's hand. Questions flooded Danny's head, but he ignored them as he floated down and landed next to his friends.

"Danny, are you ok?" Sam asked, looking concerned. Changing back into his human form, he nodded. The ghost hadn't hurt him, just scared him… more then he wanted to admit.

"Danny, I-I didn't mean to," Tucker stuttered, walking over to his friend "I don't know what I was thinking. I'm so sorry!" Tucker looked at his feet, ashamed. Danny shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." He said, feeling sorry for Tucker. "She's gone…for now." Danny looked up at the spot where she had disappeared, his two friends following his gaze.

"Who was she?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, and I don't think I want to know." He said, shivering. Tucker's watch beeped. Danny looked over at him, his eyebrow raised.

"Wow, 11:30. We should get some sleep." Tucker said, looking back at him "We do have school tomorrow, y'know."

_School tomorrow, great._ Danny thought, losing what energy he had left.

Sam nodded, her worried eyes taking in Danny's tired form. Noticing her look, Danny tried not to look as tired as he suddenly felt.

"Tucker's right, Danny. We can worry about this tomorrow. Right now you need as much rest as you can get." Danny sighed, looking over at Sam.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll see you guys tomorrow then?" Both his friends nodded. He smiled, letting his worries wash away as he pictured his soft, warm, comfortable bed…

* * *

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! 

"Ugh." Danny groaned as he reached out to turn off his alarm. A strange dream he had just woken up from floated to the top of his mind. It had included a certain creepy girl from The Ring as some weird form of Technus that lurked in tvs.

Frowning at his pillow, Danny wondered if all of this ghost fighting was getting to him. _Good thing Jazz can't see my dreams._ Danny smiled at this thought. _She'd probably try and psychoanalyze me or something._

Groaning, he finally dragged himself out of bed. Putting his normal shirt on, Danny brushed his bruised and road-burned back and winced. Once again thinking evil thoughts about Skulker, Danny began his morning routine in a brainless stupor.

More awake now that he had food in him, Danny began to worry about the strange golden eyed ghost as he shoveled more oatmeal into his mouth.

"Danny, are you ok sweetie?" His mom asked.

"Huh?" Danny looked up, focusing his blank stare on his mom. "Yeah… I'm fine." His mom continued to look at him worriedly as Jack entered the room with much gusto.

"Maddie!" Jack yelled excitedly, "Come take a look at the lab! There's tons of ecto-energy all over the place!" Her husband's energy contagious, Maddie leapt up and ran after Jack down to the lab. Danny's triumph at having the kitchen to himself lasted about two seconds before his sister Jazz walked in.

"Hey Danny."

"Hey Jazz." Jazz sat down next to her little brother and smiled. Danny took another bite of oatmeal.

"Any ghost attacks last night?" Jazz asked after making sure their parents were no where near. Danny sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, we caught quite a few on patrol, but I let Skulker get away." Danny sighed again and continued, "And then this weird gold eyed ghost girl came out of the portal and," he paused as he remembered the effect her eyes had had on him and Tucker. "Well, she hypnotized us, I think." Jazz looked up at this.

"How?"

"What"

"How did she hypnotize you"

"Oh," Danny paused for a second, feeling stupid, "She didn't actually do anything, just after looking at her eyes my mind sorta," he paused, wondering what to say "…went blank."

"Hmm." Danny stared at his oatmeal while he remembered what had actually gone through his mind. It was like nothing else mattered, nothing except for pleasing her.

"So," Jazz spoke up, interupting Danny's thoughts, "I'm guessing that you didn't have enough time to do that essay Lancer assigned." Danny choked on his oatmeal. _The essay! Aw man, that's worth like a quarter of our grade!_ He put his head in his hands, feeling hopeless.

"Hey Danny"

"Yeah?" He asked dejectedly, lifting his head. Jazz sat there, smiling, with a typed essay held out towards Danny.

"Jazz! You didn't!" Danny grabbed the essay out of his sister's hand. Looking it over, he shook his head in amazement. "You did!" He looked up, smiling broadly.

"You're the best sister ever!" He said, laughing.

Jazz smiled, "And don't you forget that." She messed up his hair. "I just want to give you the same chance that you give other people. You really are a hero, Danny." Danny grinned, embarressed.

"Thanks Jazz." He said, meaning it with all of his heart. She ruffled his hair again before going to fix herself some breakfast.

* * *

Danny stood outside of Sam's house, waiting for her to get ready. Feeling better then he had all week, Danny looked up at the sky and smiled. _How much trouble can a golden eyed ghost and Skulker cause anyway?_ He took a deep breath of the crisp fall air, feeling relaxed._ I probably won't even see that gold eyed ghost again._ Feeling like he could take on the world, Danny's heart danced as he watched Sam open her door.  
"Hey Danny." Sam greeted. He smiled as Sam walked out, all remaining thoughts of ghosts far away.

* * *

Aww, poor Danny, hormones crowding his mind. Heh, maybe I should make his greatest fear be asking Sam out. Heh heh heh… wait, what am I thinking? I actually have a plot I'm working with here, believe it or not. 

Ack! I swear, if I make another story, it's gonna be humor. Oh yes. This drama/angst thing is hard for me to write. But trust me, next chapter it gets better. More drama, more angst, more, well, general action. Oh, and how did you like the ghost I threw in for kicks? (I plotted out a little bit of her character, but I couldn't think of a good name for her that wasn't cheesy beyond belief. Sad, yeah?)

That reminds me, review please! I will give you a cookie! ...or, something.

Just don't say, "You suck." (I will fill your e-mail box with spam, beware the spam!)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Still haven't found Desiree, so DP belongs to the amazing Butch Hartman. And what an amazing episode last Friday night!

Oh,on that note, I already have most of my story written out on my trusty notebook. So if in some upcoming episode there's a huge plot twist or something, then just pretend that that never happened when you are reading this. Yep.

Oh man, reviews! You guys rock my socks off! (Brr, my feet are cold...) Sorry I didn't post the other chapter one reviewers, but this site must upload slowly or something, I didn't see them till today. I'll do all of that stuff at the bottom, though, they're better at the end, I think.

Hey-o! Chapter three!

* * *

Walking to school with Sam, Danny kept noticing strange things that were really starting to unnerve him. Like how Sam swung her hips back and forth when she walked, and the faint smell of perfume that drifted over to Danny with the slightest breeze, and how her hair… _Whoa, hey, whoa! Sam is my friend! …who is a girl… but not my girlfriend!_

Danny scowled. _Sam would probably punch me if she knew what I was thinking about right now._ He glanced quickly over at Sam, who was walking along quietly beside him.

_What about Paulina?_ He thought suddenly, turning his thoughts towards her. It had been great when she had gone out with him, even though it was only because she was possessed. He sighed, his mind turning once again to Sam. _But Sam, she's so independent and strong… and beautiful._ Danny remembered the dress she had worn to the dance, an unknown smile spread across his face.

"Danny?" Danny realized he had been staring at Sam. Quickly looking away, Danny mumbled an excuse as he felt himself blush. _But what if she doesn't like me like that? What if I told her and she turned me down._ Danny thought nervously. _Getting turned down by Paulina almost every day is hard enough, but if Sam turned me down…?_ He suddenly felt sympathetic for Vlad.

_And then what about our friendship, huh?_ He asked himself. He knew what would happen, they'd be awkward around each other and he'd feel lost and depressed every time that he looked at her and remembered that she had said no… _But what if she does like me?_

Danny continued to argue with himself as Sam looked at the trees rustling in the fall wind. _The leaves are so beautiful in the fall._ Glancing back at Danny, who still seemed to be lost somewhere between Earth and Mars, Sam wondered what he had been thinking about.

_Probably the ghost that he fought last night._ She rolled her eyes, he worries too much, he needs to relax. She looked at the ground, thinking about Danny's fight last night. _…poor guy._ She blinked at the unexpected thought, quickly turning her gaze back to the trees.

_It's not like he wants some girl constantly worrying about him, praying that he doesn't get hurt every time a ghost comes around_. She thought suddenly, an unbidden feeling of jealousy rising up. _Well, unless it was Paulina._ Sam thought bitterly.

She began to think about Paulina and how shallow and stupid and, geeze, why would any guy like her anyway? _But Danny does_. Sam looked back at the ground.

Trying desperately to think of other things, she remembered the movie they had all watched last night. It really was a great movie. _It was even scary the second time, except for when Danny held me. I felt so safe in his arms…_ Sam shook her head, glaring at the ground. _No! He likes Paulina! Pull yourself together Sam._

Sam looked over at Danny just as he happened looked over at her. Their eyes locked, both looking longingly into the others. Unbidden, the memory of her and Danny kissing replayed (in slow motion) in her mind. Her hands itched to reach out and hold his hand, let him wrap his arm around her shoulder and protect her from the world.

_I really do love him._ She finally admitted to herself. Her mouth opened, the words ready to spill out, when Danny blinked and then looked away. Choking, Sam looked back at the ground, her world crashing down on her. Wiping her eyes, she reminded herself with a heartbroken sigh, _He likes Paulina…_

Danny continued to argue with himself, completely oblivious to the heartbroken sigh coming from his friend. He wanted to look at Sam again, see her beautiful face framed by her silky hair. His eyes started to wander back towards Sam. Catching himself, he glared instead at the grey concrete.

_Sam saw me looking at her last time!_ He yelled at himself. He really didn't want to make things awkward between him and Sam. He loved hanging out with her.

_Oh yeah, and Tucker, too._ He added as an afterthought.

It didn't matter to Sam that he was considered a geeky outcast of high school society, or that he was a strange hybrid of ghost and human. Danny straightened his back and held his head a little higher. Sometimes it even felt like she considered him a hero! A dorky smile spread across his face. Him, a hero!

His smile widened as a blush creeped onto his face. He was Sam's hero.

He suddenly wished a ghost would show up so that he could show Sam a new fighting technique he had learned last weekend. He tried to visualize how her face would look as he stood over his defeated foe, his hair blowing in the wind. _Ok, hold up there, Danny,_ He thought, feeling stupid as he realized what he had been thinking about. Try as he might, he still couldn't banish the smile that spread across his face as he and Sam walked up the steps to Casper High.

Tucker greeted him and Sam as they reached the front entrance to their jail, I mean school! Feeling better then usual with his essay securely in his backpack, and ...other things on his mind, Danny followed his two friends to their first class, a bounce in his step.

* * *

"Now class, please take out your finished essays and pass them forward." Lancer glared at Danny, assuming that, once again, Danny had failed to complete the assignment. 

Wiping drool from his face after his quick nap, Danny cracked open his bleary eyes and reached for his backpack. His mind buzzing with meaningless dates and fragmented sentences that had managed to make it into his tired mind.

He blinked, feeling a familiar tingling. His heart sped up and his muscles tensed, but his brain was still drawing a blank.

_What…!_ Finally realizing what it was, Danny sat up instantly, his eyes darting around. The remaining blue smoke disappeared as Danny jumped to his feet.

Stumbling for an excuse, Danny was halfway to the door before he managed to blurt out, "My essay! Yeah! I left my essay in my locker." Not even hearing Lancer's reply, Danny stumbled into the hallway and sprinted towards his locker.

Reaching it, he phased his hand through and grabbed the Fenton Thermos. Oh yes, this time he was going to catch whatever ghost decided to bother him.

Glancing around and seeing no one, he quickly changed and flew through the roof, sensing the ghost above the school. _Well, it's either Skulker or that creepy ghost girl… I hope its Skulker._ He thought as his head phased through the roof.

Skulker floated next to a vent, grinning as Danny floated up to eye level. Danny sighed with relief.

"I have a present for you." Skulker smirked, sounding different then he usually did.

"I have a thermos for you." Danny countered, grinning as he took the cap off of the thermos.

Realizing that Skulker was pointing something very sinister looking at him, Danny decided it was about time he moved. Flying up over Skulker's head, Danny aimed the thermos down at him. Skulker swung his arm around, once again pointing the sinister thing at him. A beam of black light shot out towards Danny. Abandoning the thermos, Danny leapt up, doing the split in midair to avoid being hit.

_That was almost too close._

"What kind of present is that!" He yelled, his eyes searching for where the thermos had landed. Skulker ignored him and once again took aim.

Danny was becoming a little unnerved by Skulker's unnatural silence. _This is where you tell me how amazing of a hunter you are, Skulker!_ Danny thought, diving as another beam shot by. _"I am Skulker! Ghost zones GREATEST hunter!"_ Danny spotted the thermos next to the vent Skulker was standing by._ "You will all fear me!"_ He continued his dive, grinning as he picked up the thermos and whirled around.

"Say goodbye, Sk-" Stopping short, Danny gulped as he came face to face with Skulker's weapon.

"Say goodbye, ghost boy." Skulker's finger tightened. His heart racing, Danny shoved the thermos onto Skulker's chest and turned it on. _I have one chance…_ He heard the thermos power up as he saw the weapon draw in dark energy. Danny watched as the dark energy built, hisinstincts screaming at him to run. His mind on the thermos shoved onto Skulker's stomach, Danny stood there, watching the dark orb with a horrible fascination.

Fully charged, the Fenton Thermos and Skulker's weapon both fired at the same time. Danny felt the beam hit him in the chest, lifting him off of his feet. Black lightning danced across his body as he flew backwards, his mind grasping what had just happened.

Danny finally caught himself in midair and blinked. _That didn't hurt at all._ He held up his hand as some black sparks jumped between his fingers. _No pain,_ he flexed his fingers. Nothing happened.

_What…?_ He patted himself down, feeling some pain in his chest where the beam had hit, but nothing else. Danny shrugged, he'd think about it later.

Looking up, he saw Skulker brushing himself off. The Fenton Thermos was lying on the ground a few feet from him, right where Danny had dropped it when Skulker blasted him. It must have turned off when he had let go.

Seeing an opening, Danny leapt forward and punched the weapon from Skulker's hand. The sinister thing shattered against the ground.

"I didn't think very much of your present, Skulker." Danny gloated, his arms crossed as he floated in front of him.

Growling, Skulker jumped towards Danny, his hands grasping for his neck.

"Ack!" Danny reacted instantly by phasing through the roof. _What is wrong with Skulker!_ He looked up at the ceiling to see Skulker's face burst through, his eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Ahh! Skulker!" Danny yelped as he dodged punch after punch that Skulker threw at him. "Look, I didn't know- eep!" Skulker's fist passed within inches of his face. "that you liked that weapon so much! Oof!" Skulker finally connected a punch right to Danny's stomach.

Danny doubled over, gasping. He felt Skulker's steel boot slam into his back, knocking the rest of his breath from him. Blinking away stars, he winced as feeling returned in his back, sending fire throughout his body.

_Run!_ His brain screamed above the pain. Danny dove towards the floor. But instead of going through it, he connected painfully with cold tile. Stars exploded in his vision once again and he wondered dully if ghosts could break their noses.

He saw Skulker's boot land next to where he lay curled on the floor cradling his nose. He felt his heart beat racing against the cool floor.

_Phase through the floor._ He willed himself, but nothing happened. Skulker's boot lifted up, moving until it was right over Danny's head.

_PHASE THROUGH THE FLOOR!_ His mind screamed. His body stubbornly stayed solid.

Just as Danny was preparing himself for the worst, he heard the most unexpected sound… the school bell ringing. Doors slammed open all around him as students burst into the hallway. Danny could see the feet of the students as they stopped dead, circling around him and Skulker. The normal chatter died down as whispers raced through the halls like wildfire.

"It's that ghost boy, what's his name?"

"It's Danny Phantom."

"Danny Phantom." His name seemed to echo throughout the school.

_Not good, not good…_ The thought circled around Danny's head as his heart sank. He had to get out of here, and fast! He looked up slowly to see Skulker's boot still poised above his head. _Really not good!_

"Hey, shouldn't we help him?" Someone asked, tentatively. Danny's hopes soared. _Yes, please help!_ Danny thought desperately, wondering why Skulker hadn't done anything yet.

_Maybe he's shy…_He thought with what little sense of humor he had left at this point.

Sensing movement, Danny wrapped his arms around his head. The crowd gasped right before Danny felt Skulker kick him in the stomach, hard.

Flying back, Danny smashed into a wall of lockers, his head connecting painfully with solid, very solid, metal. Danny slid down to the floor with a gasp of pain, his vision returning shortly after blacking out.

For a horrible moment, Danny thought he was going to change back to Danny Fenton in front of all of the students. Concentrating on staying in ghost mode, a horrible thought flooded his mind. What if that's what Skulker's trying to do? He couldn't take much more, his whole body ached with every movement, and he knew Skulker could tell. He cursed under his breath as he saw a blurry shape step closer. The crowd drew back, to scared to interfere.

"Skulker…" Danny muttered, tasting green blood from his nose. "Don't do this Skulker." Skulker leaned in close to Danny, his flaming hair hurting Danny's eyes. Danny squinted up at him, still concentrating on staying in ghost mode.

A look of intense curiosity crossed Skulker's face, then vanished as suddenly as it had come as Skulker swung his fist back.

_What the…?_ Thought's on Skulker's weird behavior vanished as he saw Skulker's fist fly forward. Danny shut his eyes. _Don't change back!_

"Danny?" Sam's voice broke through the crowd, but it was too late.

Danny screamed as Skulker rammed his fist into his shoulder. He felt bones snap and the pain intensified tenfold.

_Don't change back_. He felt two rings appear.

_Don't change back!_ He heard the students gasp as the two rings moved apart. His face, he could still cover his identity! He felt the rings move slowly up and down his chest, revealing his trademark shirt.

_Concentrate! Don't change back!_ He heard Sam yelling something, but it didn't matter. They were going to see, they were all going to know who he was!

_No! Concentrate!_ He screamed at himself, he could still stop this, still save himself. The top ring was past his now bloody shoulder, the bottom heading towards his knees.

He heard the Fenton Thermos suck up Skulker.

The rings still moved slowly, past his mouth, his nose. _NOOO!_ The crowd gasped in unison.

Danny Fenton opened his now baby blue eyes in fear and pain and looked around at the wide eyed crowd.

People whispered, "Fenton…?" to one another, others just sat there, staring with their mouths wide open.

Sam stepped forward, her face pale but determined, Fenton Thermos held with white knuckles. Tucker followed behind, looking nervous.

"Sam." Danny sobbed, feeling small and alone. He looked up at his best friend with wide, fearful eyes. _Sam and Tucker stayed by me._ He thought, grateful beyond belief.

"Don't worry Danny, we'll get you out of here." Sam whispered reassuringly, taking his uninjured arm. Danny nodded, his mind numb. Tucker stood blocking him from the crowd.

Danny tried to stand up, but even with Sam's help, it was too much for him. He tried again, wishing he could just run away. Jolts of pain shot through his body every time he moved, keeping him sitting there, trying not to look at the shocked faces of the students of Casper High.

Fortunately, Tucker stepped forward and he and Sam managed to lift Danny. Sam took his uninjured arm and put it over her shoulder. Danny groaned as Tucker bumped his injured arm, lifting it over his shoulder.

"Sorry buddy." Tucker whispered. Danny's mind started working again as he took in his classmates' shocked faces. _This is all just a nightmare,_ Danny thought, laughing a little, _I'll wake up and none of this will have happened._

They stepped forward, Danny supported between them. Danny's whole body ached, and his arm throbbed every time Tucker took a step.

_You can't feel pain in a dream_. A little voice whispered. He ignored it. He didn't want to believe it. It couldn't have happened. None of this was real!

The crowd stepped back, cold eyes staring, but dutifully parting to let them through. Danny watched the floor, every comment reaching his ears as his best friends carried him away from his living nightmare.

"Fenton is Phantom?"

"He's half ghost! Freak!" _…freak._

"But he saved the town, didn't he?" Danny's hopes rose for a second. But another voice cut through harshly.

"He threatened the mayor, robbed banks!" _It wasn't me, not my fault!  
_

"Somebody should do something, y'know, stop him…"

For a second he was afraid that they were going to attack him. He almost welcomed an attack, he could deal with that, could handle that kind of pain.

Danny watched a single tear fall to the floor as he listened to his peers turn on him. He had protected them, he had done his best, wasn't that enough? Couldn't they at least leave him alone? _You are a freak, Phantom. Not a boy, not a ghost…_ Spectra's words haunted him. Danny choked as more tears followed, marking his sad trail out of Casper High.

Sam opened the doors leading out of the school. The sound of birds and the slight rustle of the wind reached the trio. Danny kept his head hung, his two friends supporting him. He closed his eyes to block out the sun.

"Wait!" Danny's head shot up at the sound. Blinking, he looked behind him.

"Paulina?"

* * *

A cliffhanger! ...well, sort of. 

Gasp! I've got plot! (laughs at my own joke) Err, anyway, this is where I actually start liking my story. Making Danny suffer, yeah! (Dodges deadly glare from Sam) Err, I mean, smiting Paulina off the side of the earth? ...woo hoo?

No, actually, I just got into it more when I was writing, had more fun in the process,and ended up liking how it turned out.

Oh, right, reviews! First of all, you all rock (my socks off) and if you want me to reply to you (either in my story, ignoring astupid rule, or with an e-mail) just tell me! So, this next part is just me being random... yeah, that's it.

Sooo...(takes a deep breath)Yay, someone liked my ghost! Cheese is good! (I'm gonna go eat some right now) BEWARE THE SPAM! (Ha, just kidding) Meat spam! Sounds gross. (I rock! WOO!) What's a siren? (feels stupid).And, finally, here's the update!...whew!

'k, done being random.

Reviews are asamazing as the movie Narnia! (Which is pretty darn amazing)


	4. Chapter 4

Woo! One more week tilChristmas break... One more week... I can make one week, I think.

'k, I just noticed that if I put a ? next to a ! it usuallyerases the question mark, which is lame. So nowI'm trying to figure out how to outsmart this darn computer (but sadly, I think the computer is winning). Ahh! And it also jams some of my words together, WTF! (Watch, that'll end up just being an exclaimation mark.)

Oh, right, the story. Disclaimer: Not mine!

Hi ho Silver! AWAY! (Heh heh) Chapter four!

* * *

Staring wide-eyed, framed by the doors of the school, stood Paulina. 

Danny straightened shakily, brushing off his friends helping hands. A shadow of a hope returned as he remembered Paulina's crush on the ghost boy. If anyone would accept him, it would be her.

He watched her, his breath unknowingly held, as she walked up to him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sam move forward angrily, but Tucker caught her and held her back.

Paulina looked Danny up and down. His shoulder bloody, his face bruised, his hair a mess, his shadowed eyes looking downcast and only standing because his two friends were supporting him, he was not the hero that her Danny Phantom was. Danny Fenton was weak, insecure and, most importantly, a loser in the high school society.

Paulina turned her gaze to his two friends standing by him protectively. Images of Sam and Tucker watching the ghost boy fly away flashed through her mind. "_Of course we don't know Danny Phantom, he's a ghost. Humans don't talk to ghosts."_ Her eyes widened, glancing over at Dannys two friends.

"You two knew all along, didn't you." Paulina accused Sam and Tucker. Sam just glared at Paulina. Tucker nodded his head slightly.

Paulina looked back at Danny, noticing his hopeful eyes watching her.She hesitated, looking around nervously. She didn't see anyone, but she knew, now more then ever, that there were no secrets in highschool. They'd find out eventually.

Her mind racing, she remembered her friends' reaction, their jumbled explaination of what had just happened in one of the school's hallways. And their confused and suspicious looks when Paulina had rushed off without another word.

Looking back suddenly, her head held high, Paulina broke the silence.

"Hmph, only you two losers would hang out with a half ghost freak!" She looked at Danny in disgust as his head fell, his last hope gone.

Paulina turned on her heel and started to walk back towards where she had left her friends. But before she could even take two steps Sam yelled and tackled her to the ground.

"You bitch!" Sam screamed as she tried to punch every inch of Paulina. Paulina yelped as she felt Sam land punch after punch to her back. With her arms pinned beneath her, Paulina lie helpless to Sam's fury. So, with no choice left, Paulina resorted to screaming insults at Sam.Whichwasn't reallythe best of ideas as it justseemed to spurSam on as she added her sharp nails to the one sided fight.

Heisitating for a second, Tucker glanced at Danny sitting dejectedly on the ground, his head buried in his arms, before he rushed forward to get Sam off of Paulina.

"Sam! Sam, calm down!" He pulled her off of Paulina, gaining a new respect for Sam's strenght as she struggled valiantly. His grip slipped and Sam lashed forward to knock Paulina down again just after she had started to crawl away.

"I'll make you a half ghost freak!" She yelled, evading Tuckers grasp and kicking the moaning lump that was Paulina.

"SAM!" Tucker managed to catch both of Sam's arms and pin them behind her back. Sam seethed as Paulina peeked out from between her arms. Seeing her attacker restrained, for the moment at least, she struggled to her feet. Sam spit on her as Paulina limped away as fast as she could, yelling insults in spanish.

After Paulina disappeared inside their school (still yelling insults in spanish), Tucker released Sam's arms with a relieved sigh.  
Remembering their friend, Sam turned around.

"Danny, I-" Sam looked around.

"Danny?" _He's gone!

* * *

_

Danny flew as fast as he could through the dark clouds above the city of Amity Park. Not knowing or caring where he was going, he only wanted to get away.

An image of Paulina kept floating through his mind, accompanied by her words. He closed his eyes, angrily pushing the image away. Feeling himself fall a little, Danny shook his head and forced his mind to focus on flying. _"Freak."_ Images of his classmates followed him through the clouds, taunting him.

"No." Danny moaned, trying to fly faster. His arm was starting to throb again and his body was reminding him of how tired he was. "_Somebody should do something, y'know, stop him…"_

"Leave me alone!" He felt himself fall again, breaking through the cover of the clouds._ "Hmph, only you two losers would hang out with a half ghost freak!"_

"Shut up!" Danny yelled, holding his head in his hands.

Gravitytook it's chance toreclaim the errant ghost boy.

Danny's eyes shot open as hefelt himselfbegin to free fall. Gasping, he looked down at the ground rushing up to meet him.He tucked his legs underneath him, preparing to shoot upwards, when a lone thought halted him.

_…what if I became a full ghost?_

An image of Sam, Tucker and his family crying next to a gravestone suddenly replaced the images of his classmates. Danny grimaced and looked up at the dark skies again,kicking his legs out behind him as he focused on flying. He felt the wind whistle through his hair as his tired and beaten body continued to rush towards the ground. His eyes widened fearfully.

"Oh, shit."

* * *

Sam dragged Tucker along, both of their eyes darting around for any sign of Danny. 

After finding Danny gone, Sam had guessed that he would be no where near their school. She desperately hoped she was right as she and Tucker continued to run farther away from Casper High, Tucker watching the sky while Sam searched the ground.

They were near the outskirts of town when Tucker yelled.

"Sam!" Tucker pulled her to a stop and pointed up at the sky with his free hand. A black and white streak had just fallen through the darkening clouds and was now hurtling towards the ground.

"DANNY!" Sam screamed. Her eyes glued to her falling friend, she raced towards the horizon. Tucker watched his friend, too shocked to move.

"No…" he whispered, shaking his head as if this horrible image would go away if only he could just wake up.

Sam streaked forward, tears streaming off her face as her eyes tracked her friend towards the ground. Danny fell straight towards the forest on the edge of Amity Park, gaining speed. He had almost reached the trees when she saw him pull up slightly. Adrenaline rushed through her legs as her feet pounded across the grass. _Hold on Danny._

Tucker tried to pull his eyes away as Danny neared the top of the trees. His friend suddenly pulled up slightly, slowing his deadly descent.

"Yes! Come on Danny, you can do it!" Tucker cheered, watching as Danny struggled to stay above the trees racing by below him. He continued to drop, the taller trees now grabbing at him as he sped by.

"Come ON Danny." Tucker muttered, his eyes concerned as his friend disappeared within the forest.

Sam raced through the forest, following the trail of broken branches. Her breath came in short gasps as her heart raced along with her pounding feet. Her eyes darted through the trees, noticing every torn piece of black cloth, every drop of green blood. The broken branches were getting closer to ground level; she was almost there.

Her eyes spotted the crumpled form of her friend lying at the end of a trench his body had carved when he had hit the ground.

_Danny!_ Reaching him, she collapsed next to him, reaching out with a trembling hand to smooth back his black hair.

He lay in a crater of dirt, his white shirt unhurt but stained by long streaks of blood. His legs were stretched out behind him, his arms trapped beneath him. His face, half buried in dirt, was beaten and scratched as bad as the rest of his body. His eyes were closed, his expression peaceful.

"Danny?" Sam's voice shook. She leaned in close to his face, listening for his breath. His breathing was shallow and slow, but he was breathing. Sam leaned back, almost crying in relief.

Tucker came puffing through the forest and practically stumbled along his two friends. Sam looked up, Danny's head resting comfortably in her lap. She smiled at Tucker, letting him know everything was ok. Tucker collapsed next to Sam, taking in her red and tearstained face while trying to catch his breath.

"I…" Tucker faltered, "I was afraid, I thought…" He stopped, not knowing what to say. Sam looked at him with a melancholy smile, she knew what he meant.

Tucker sighed, looking at Danny's peaceful expression and watching his chest slowly rise and fall. He let his mind relax ashis body reminded himpainfully that he was not meant to run for that long without stopping. He silently agreed with his body as he clutched a painful sidestitch.

They sat there in the middle of the silent forest, calming their racing hearts and relaxing, if only just for a little while, from the events of the day.

* * *

I hope you all like how I dealt with Paulina! Heh heh… Er, actually I mean her reaction, not Sam totally kicking her rear end all the way to Wisconsin! Go Sam! 

Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I had to end it there. Oh yeah, and if you're wondering why Sam and Tucker are taking a breather before trying to get Danny help, well, they just sprinted around 800 meters (actually more like 1400) all out, and trust me, even adrenaline won't get your shaking legs underneath you after that!

Randomness!First of all, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Second of all: Mu ha ha ha! That's for you to guess at! (Yeah, but Danny doesfind out about it later) Oh man! Mushi! ...does Mushi have a theme song? (Mushi needs a theme song) Oh, and watch out for those no parking signs, those stupid darn police tend to hide around them... curse them. (Shakes fist) Erm, is it sadistic? (wow that sounds evil) ACK! Spam-nation! (Oh no! I sound like Lancer! Gag me with a spoon.) Yes! I was hoping someone would mention the fight! I really worked hard on that one. And...CHEESE!

You guys are all amazing, seriously.

Reveiws are like Christmas break; awesome!


	5. Chapter 5

WA-HOOO! (I love hockey games) Boom boom chick! Boom boom chick! We will we wiiiiill _rock you_! (boom boom chick)

Disclaimer: Still owned by the one and only,Butch Hartman. (Hey, is there a new episode this Friday?)

Dun duh-nuh-na! Chapter 5!

* * *

He was falling through the sky in a weird sense of déjà vu. The ground rushed towards him as he fell, headfirst, his silver bangs streaming behind him. Grotesque skeletal fingers reached up towards him as he screamed soundlessly. 

The skeletal fingers morphed suddenly into his classmates who immediately screamed and ran away from him.

Shaking his head, he looked around in confusion at where he now stood safely on the ground. Danny barely had time to take a deep breath and figure things out when he saw the ground darken beneath him.

He gulped and looked fearfully behind him at whatever was casting a shadow over him. His head craned up to see the top of a dark …thing towering over him. Backing up slowly, he saw the dark form shift into the outline of a girl. Piercing glowing eyes opened slowly and cast an eerie light on the black landscape.

She leaned in towards his frozen figure, her eyes narrowing in hatred. Danny closed his eyes tightly, wishing it all away. Stinging pain raced across his chest, he opened his mouth to scream.

"Danny?"

Danny closed his mouth with a moan.

He opened his blurry eyes to see Jazz standing over him. She smiled at him as she placed something white on his chest. Danny sucked in his breath as he felt the stinging sensation again.

"Sorry, but I have to clean these up." She motioned towards the cuts running down his chest. "How are you feeling? Sam and Tucker were really worried when they dropped you off here." Danny looked around as his room swam into focus.

"Where are Sam and Tucker?" He asked, ignoring the other questions. She waved her hand dismissively.

"At the police station with mom and dad, explaining... some things. In fact, I need to get down there soon. Do you think you'll be ok by yourself for awhile?"

Danny nodded as his groggy mind sank back down into sleep.

* * *

The blood red sun was just fading below the horizon as Danny looked out his window and sighed. The sun cast long shadows through his room and bathed the walls and carpet in red light. Danny turned back to his room, a halo of red light reflecting off his midnight black hair. 

Danny began to pace around his room, following an already worn path around the carpet. So everyone knew he was Danny Phantom, he could deal with that… right?

He sat down on the edge of his bed and covered his face with his hands. Everything was changing so fast! He didn't know what to do.

He tucked his knees under his chin, staring blankly at the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a red light flashing. Turning around, he saw his phone on his desk flashing at him.

Getting up slowly, he walked over to the phone, looking at it curiously. He had 17 messages.

He hit the play button.

"Is this where Danny Phantom lives?" A small voiced asked, sounding shy. "I-I just wanted to say thank you. I saw you help the town… and I want to grow up to be just like you!" The quiet voice stopped, apparently confused on how to go about thanking her hero.

Danny stared at the machine in astonishment.

The quiet voice continued. "My mom tells me that some people think that you are evil." Her voice grew stronger. "But I want you to know that I think that you are a good ghost!" Danny heard the child's mother take the phone. "What my little Sophia means to say is thank you, Danny Phantom." She paused, her voice growing warmer as Danny heard Sophia agreeing in the background. "And God bless."

A click signaled the end of the call, but the machine continued with the second message. Danny continued to stand there, his eyes wide, staring at the machine in disbelief.

"D-Danny Phantom?" This time, the voice sounded older. "I don't know if you remember me, but you saved my life when all of those skeletons attacked our town. And I just wanted to say… well, thanks."

Another click, and then the next message started up. Danny had just managed to gather his witts about himwhen the next message blew his mind away.

"Mr. Fenton," Danny gaped at the message machine as Lancer's voice continued. "I heard about your unfortunate exposure in school the other day. But that is no excuse for you and your two friends' absence from school today! I expect to see you at school tomorrow, homework in hand." There was a slight pause, Danny managed to close his mouth."But, I will…" Lancer sighed, apparently regretting what he was about to say. "I will let you slide on a FEW homework assignments, and I will also erase some of your tardies and absences."

Danny's mouth had dropped again.

Mr. Lancersighed again, then his voice regained its normal tone of authority. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Mr. Fenton."

Danny stared wide-eyed at the machine. Was that even _possible_? Mr. Lancer had given _him_ homework passes? He was going to excuse his _absences_! …Mr. _Lancer_!

Danny stared at the machine in shock for a moment, then…

"Yes!" Hejumped into the air, thrusting his fist up. He then started to dance around his roomas the next message started.

"Danny?" He stopped, staring over at the machine. Valerie's confused voice stuttered, then continued.

"I… I can't believe… You're…?" There was a long silence as Danny stood frozen, his eyes fixed on the machine. "I guess," There was a slight laugh. "It sort of makes sense… I mean, you always seemed to just disappear when a ghost showed up… and you never really tried to hurt me, even though I…" Another long pause. "I… I'm sorry Danny. I was just so mad! I wanted to blame someone, anyone, when my dad lost his job." She swallowed hard. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, recently. And now that I look back on it, you really did everything you could to help me out, even if it meant exposing me to my father." Her voice did get a little bitter at this point, but she continued quickly. "I really need to talk to you, Danny. There are still a lot of things I'd like to know, and I think you at least owe me an explanation." She paused, her voice sounding hopeful. "See you at school tomorrow?" There was another pause, and then the call ended with a click.

_Valerie apoligized to me? _With a suddenly suspicious glance around the room, Dannyyelped as he pinchedhimself. The next message started as Danny finally admitted that he wasn't dreaming.

"Danny Phantom! Hey! How's it going pal? Say, this is Harriet Chin, remember me? From Vlad's reunion?" She paused, then hastily continued, apparently realizing she was talking to a machine. "Well, I was wondering if you would let me interview you? Y'know, like 'Danny Phantom; the Hero of Amity Park.' Or, 'Danny Fenton; the Man Behind the Mask.' I'd even let you choose the title! Well, anyway, give me a call!" She rambled off her phone number and then hung up with a cheery goodbye.

They wanted to interviewhim? _Him!_ He had never even made it into the papers, unlike Dash whoseemed to have his face in the papereveryday for his "Outstanding Pass That Won the Game!"

...well, unless he counted "Inviso-Bill Spotted Again" or "Ghost Boy Attacks Mayor!"

The rest of the messages played by, most of them from people calling to thank Danny, or tell him that he was doing a good job. There were a few more about news stations wanting an interview or 'The True Story of Danny Phantom.' (Danny got a kick out of that one) But there were also a few, very few, calls saying that Danny should leave the hero business to someone older.

Danny instantly deleted those calls.

He flopped on his bed, smiling happily up at the ceiling. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. His mind wandered through all of the calls, replaying the first one, when the little girl had shyly tried to thank him. He felt warm as he tried to imagine the little girl, smiling up at her mom as they called to thank him.

Resisting the urge to play the messages over again, Danny stood up and frowned out the window.

He needed to figure some things out.

Like why had Skulker wanted to expose him? That just wasn't like him. Skulker wanted to hunt down and capture him, not humiliate him!

He rubbed his swollen shoulder, feeling grateful that Skulker had only dislocated his shoulder, not broken it.

Danny shook his head, remembering once again the events that had lead up to him changing back in front of his classmates. He remembered fighting Skulker, and the sinister weapon.

Danny stopped short. _That weapon, it wasn't meant to kill…_ He paced around some more, sorting through his blurry memory. The beginning was crystal clear, but after Skulker and him left the roof of the school, it faded into what seemed like a bad dream; fragments of sentences, blurred images and a remembered feeling of fear. He dug deeper into the memory, searching for something just below the surface…

Danny looked up suddenly, remembering something. An image of Skulker with his foot poised over Danny's head, the stubbornly solid floor beneath him.

He stopped pacing around his room, the remembered feeling of falling and not being able to stop it following the image of Skulker. His eyes widened as he glanced at the scrapes on his arm that would usually have healed when he turned back into his human self.

Danny kneeled down on the floor, pressing his hand against the carpet. He concentrated and, after a flash of light, leaned his weight down on his now white-gloved hand. With a yelp, Danny fell face first into the carpet as his hand phased through the floor.He held his face in his hands, feeling stupid.

Floating up and hovering in the middle of his room, Danny ignored his stinging face and glanced around quickly to make sure no one was snickering in a corner.

_Ok,_ Danny thought, floating back down to the floor, _maybe it only shorts out my powers when… Oh, who am I kidding, I have no idea._ He looked over at his phone, wondering if he should call Sam or Tucker.

"Danny! You in there?" Danny gasped, changing back to human as his dad burst through his door. "Hey, Danny! I'm glad you're awake! Your mom and your sister are downstairs, and we'd all like to hear your story." His said, smiling proudly at his son.

"Oh… oh right," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. For a second, he had forgotten that his parentsmust've heard about him beingthe ghost kid."I'll be down in a sec." His dad nodded enthusiastically and closed the door. Danny heard his dad's footsteps stomp all the way down to the kitchen.

Danny stared at the door for a second, thinking. Of all of the reactions that he had played out in his head, none of them had even come close to what had just happened.His dad had acted like it was, well, _normal _to find out that your son was half ghost. He didn't even try and take a blood sample or anything.

Dannyblinked atthe door, his eyes focusing again.

Hetook a deep breath, unconsciously straightening his shirt. _Well, here I go…

* * *

_

"You were hunting ghosts the whole time?" His mom asked incredulously. His mom, Jazz, and his dad were all sitting around the dinner table, drilling Danny about his secret life as Danny Phantom.

Danny stuttered, looking away form his mom. He didn't quite know what to expect from his mom who, before this, had tried several times to kill him when he was flying around as Danny Phantom.

"That's great sweetie!" Danny sat there, still stuttering, when he finally registered what his mom had said.

"…what?"

"You're turning out just like your father and I, fighting back evil ghosts, and we couldn't be prouder!" Maddie and Jack smiled at each other, oblivious to Danny sinking down in his chair in embarrassment.

"Yeah, Danny! And now your old man can show you some of his moves!" Jack yelled enthusiastically, holding up his fists and duking it out with an imaginary ghost.

Danny was about to sink further into his chair when he remembered his dad's fight against Vlad._ If he could teach me how to beat Vlad…_ Danny smirked as he visualized holding up a beaten and bruised Vlad, a triumphant (but still menacing) smile on Danny's face as he threw Vlad back into the ghost zone. His heroic image of himself then turned around and grabbed Sam by the waist, swinging her down into a passionate ki- _Whoa! Back up there Danny!_

Danny was brought back to harsh reality as Jazz suddenly entered the conversation.

"Aren't you two going to apologize to Danny for all of the times you tried to _kill your own son_!" Jazz yelled at them, making their two parents flinch. Jack rubbed his neck nervously and looked to his wife for the rescue. Maddie instantlyswooped over to Danny and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug.

"We are so sorry dearie! If we had known it was you…" she continued, ignoring Danny's protests.

"Eep! Mom …Mom! …MOM!" Maddie let go reluctantly and, much to Danny's chagrin, ruffled his hair affectionately before returning to her seat. Danny glared at her as he tried to flatten his hair.

"We really are sorry, sweetie."

"It's ok, mom, you didn't know." Danny absently reassured her, still battling his unruly hair. Maddie still looked upset.

"If there's anything that we can do to make it up to you…?" Danny's eyes widened suddenly. _Raise my allowence, no, get rid of my curfew! Ignore my bad grades! Wait, even better, do my homework for me! Yes!  
_

Danny opened his mouth, but Jack cut him off.

"Why, we'll just help him fight off the ghosts that haunt this town!" Maddie jumped up.

"That's a great idea, Jack!" Danny closed his mouth with a snap. _Yeah, or you could do that._ He thought sarcastically.

He quickly turned around as his mom smacked a wet one on Jack's cheek. Jazz giggled at Danny's expression.

After a while, Jazz had left to finish her homework (since she had already known about Danny's secret) and Jack and Maddie had asked for a recount on what had happened from Danny Phantom's perspective.

After Danny had reached the part about Walker overshadowing the mayor and framing him, Jack had gotten up angrily and marched down to the lab muttering something about "No one frames a Fenton!"

Danny continued his story to his mom, skipping a few minor details, like the Ember incident and the school dance when he had overshadowed his dad. He also left out the part about Vlad being a halfa, as he could now use that as leverage against Vlad.

It felt good to finally tell all of this to his parents.Almost like he was sharing the responsibility that he had carried alone for so long._ No, not alone,_ he thought_, Sam and Tucker were always there, helping me out._

But, somehow,his parents knowing that he wasDanny Phantomwas different then Sam and Tucker knowing. Yeah, he talked to Sam and Tucker about his problems, but mainly only just to be able to tell someone.

Now he could go to his parents and ask them for advise with _any _of his problems... just like any other normal kid.

He and his mom had moved over to the more comfortable family room, and she was sitting on the couch with him, listening attentively to his story. He was telling his mom about when he had some trouble fighting a ghost that was more powerful then him (known to his mom as Plasmius; the full fledged ghost that died of old age and loneliness) when his mom interrupted him.

"I can help you with that, sweetie." She said, looking at her son with a proud smile.

"…really? How?"

"I don't mean to brag, but I am a ninth degree black belt." She said,a slight grin on her face."I could teach you a few tricks."

Danny shot up, staring at his mom in disbelief.

"Me? Learn from a ninth degree black belt!" He said, his words rushing out in his excitement. He grabbed his mom's hand and turned towards the lab. _Ha, Vlad is so going down! And all thanks to my mom, the women of his dreams. Talk about irony!_

"C'mon, mom! Let's go!" His mom held him back.

"Whoa, Danny, not tonight. Lancer's expecting you to have your homework done tomorrow."

Danny turned around slowly, realizing that he had forgotten to erase the messages before his parents got home. He hoped beyond hope that she hadn't heard all of them.

His mom smiled at him knowingly.

"Go do your homework, my little hero. We'll train on the weekends."

Danny's face turned a bright red at his mom's new nickname for him. It didn't help that she ruffled his hair affectionately again.

"_Mom_!" He smoothed his hair again as he scowled at her.

She just smiled at him. "Now go do your homework, Danny. Mr. Lancer said that he would only excuse a_ few_ homework assignments."

Danny nodded sullenly, still tryingto flatten his hair.

Maddie watched her son head upstairs towards his room.At the top, he stopped and turned around.

"...thanks, mom." He said quietly, then dissapeared inside his room.

Maddie smiled, already looking forward to the weekend.

* * *

Woo! I loved writing about the little girl calling Danny up and thanking him. Heh, and Mr. Lancer… I really couldn't imagine him saying anything else. He seems like such a stickler for the rules.  
Oh, yeah, and do any of you know what a 9th degree black belt is? Or what they can do? Cause I definitely don't. Crap. I'll have to look that up… 

Mistake on my part! I forgot to mention what day it was in the story, heh, oops! Danny vs. Skulker and the School and the following chapter was a Wed. This chapter was Thursday, and next chapter is Friday, the last day of school for the week. Sorry bout that.

So, randomness!

Erm, no, I'm trying more for drama, but there will be _some_ angst in it. (And I love happy endings) Dude, yes! Fondu is amazing, especially the chocolate variety. Heh heh, yeah, I sorta have a girl in my school that I'm modeling Paulina off of. (Sad that people like that actually exist, no?) Sweet! I'm so glad you liked that ending, I probably changed it like five times before I got frusterated and left it as is. (and I hope you like this chapter!) Wow, the sibling induced torture... _and_with a small car thrown in!(add a question mark there)Brutal! (Here's yonder update!) Heh, yeah. The messages will help hima lot, though. (And just wait til next chapter, when Sam comes along!) Ha ha! Oh man! That's the best reaction yet! (Sam should have a victory dance like Jazz and Maddie!) Heh heh... yeah. I'll better explain his reaction in the next chapter. Oh, and thanks for the fav! (Wow, my story is on a _favorites_ list? Ahh! Ego, stop inflating! Stop it!)

Reviews are as amazing as passing a Calc test! And that, my friend, is nothing short of a miracle.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Nope, nada

Here's back to school, part one. Aka Chapter 6!

* * *

Sam glared at the cars going by her, most likely carrying fellow students on their way to Casper High. Sam was going the other direction, headed towards a certain friend's house who had failed to show up this morning and walk to school with her like he normally did. Needless to say, Sam wasn't in the greatest of moods right now. 

"Yeah, why don't you take a picture, it lasts longer!" She yelled as another car drove by, slowing down when it passed her so that the passengers could stare at the ghost child's friend. When she finally reached the corner of the street, the neon Fenton Works sign shed it's light down on a very pissed off Sam.

Danny heard the doorbell ring, and, correctly guessing who it was, got up from the dinner table with a sigh to go answer the door. Danny opened the door slowly, already rattling off an excuse.

"Hey, Sam. I was feeling kinda- Aaah!" Danny jumped back, but not quick enough as Sam reached out and pulled Danny through the doorway by the front of his shirt.

"I'm not going to let you sulk in your house all day, Danny!" Sam said, trying to hide the concern that leaked through her voice.  
Another car drove by, almost running into a light post as the driver spotted the two. Danny ducked his head, hiding sheepishly behind Sam.

"C'mon, lets just go to school." Sam growled, shooting a nasty look at the car now zooming away from a dented light post.  
Danny coughed unrealistically.

"I have a really bad cold, _cough_, and, um, I think I need to stay home." Sam raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms. Danny dropped the act with a sigh.

"Well, it was worth a try." He muttered under his breath, dusting off his shirt since Sam had let go of her death grip.

"Danny, you can't just avoid going to school!" Sam said, sounding exasperated.

"Yes I can, watch me"

Sam sighed, "Look, it'll be all right. You can hide behind me if it helps." She said the last with a grin as Danny glared at her.

"Yeah, great. Now I'm hiding behind a girl."

"Hey! A girl who beat you and Tucker at Doomed on numerous occasions." Danny rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, rub it in why don't you. I feel great about myself now."

"Danny, come on. You know me and Tucker will help you out in any way we can." Danny's mood did lighten a little at that.

"Yeah, I know…thanks."

"No problem, you ready to go now?" Danny sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I guess so." He closed his door and quickly hid behind Sam as another car passed by. Sam tried to hold back a smile as Danny crept out from behind her, looking around warily.

"What are you grinning at?" Danny asked, glaring at her accusingly.

"Oh, nothing…"

* * *

Sam and Danny arrived at school to find the grounds completely empty. 

Everyone was already in class.

Sam pulled Danny along hurriedly as the two rushed through the hallways, headed towards Lancer's class. She paused as the two skidded to a stop right outside his door, looking over at Danny.

"You ready for this?" Danny gulped, his face looking unusually pale.

"Well… It's now or never." Sam smiled at Danny.

"I was hoping you'd say something like that."

Sam reached for the door handle, slowly opening the door to their class.

All of the students immediately looked up as the door opened to show Sam standing defiantly in the doorframe, Danny's head peaking around her shoulder. Mr. Lancer's calm voice broke the ice.

"Ah, Miss Manson, Mr. Fenton, please sit down. Class has already begun." He said as he resumed his lesson. No one listened to him, all of their eyes still trained on Danny as he stared pointedly at the floor.

Sam looked back at Danny worriedly. Realizing he wasn't going to move, ever, unless prompted, she reached out and grabbed his hand, dragging him towards two empty seats in the back. Danny followed meekly behind Sam, trying to ignore the fact that every student was still watching him as if he was suddenly going to turn invisible. He had the sudden desire to actually do just that, but it vanished when he looked up to see Sam smiling at him reassuringly.

Tucker greeted his two friends as they sat down next to him, Danny in the middle.

Lancer turned around in mid sentence and stopped, fuming, as he noticed that his whole class was turned around in their seats, still staring at Danny.

"Great Gatsby, class! Danny is not that interesting! Now, if you turn your attention back up here, I will show you something that is truly interesting." Some of the students sighed, taking one last look at Danny.One by one, the students turned back around.

Danny let out the breath he had been holding as Lancer resumed his lesson.

It was going to be a loooooong day.

* * *

The trio stood next to Danny's locker, talking in hushed voices. Danny had just finished telling his two friends about the phone calls he had received yesterday, and Tucker had latched onto the prospect of Danny giving an interview. 

"For the last time Tucker, I don't want to talk to them! They can figure out what happened on their own." Danny said in exasperation.

"Yeah, just like they figured out your name wasn't Inviso-Bill all on their own." Danny scowled at Tucker. Sam cut in.

"Y'know Danny, Tucker does have a point."

"Ahhh, you too?"

Danny gulped suddenly as he saw a group of girls staring at him and whispering to each other. He quickly stepped behind Sam before continuing the conversation.

"I don't think me giving an interview is the best thing to do." Sam and Tucker glared at him, trying to figure out why their friend was being so stubborn. Well, more thenusual, at least.

That is,until comprehension dawned on Sam's face.

"You're camera shy, aren't you?" She said with a sly grin. Danny blushed, looking at the floor.

"…no." Tucker took one look at Danny's red face andjoined the conversation with a laugh.

"You totally are!" Danny glared at his two grinning friends, wishing his face would go back to its normal shade.

"No! I just, y'know, I…" Danny floundered, looking for a good excuse.

"You just don't want those scary cameras pointed at you!" Tucker laughed as Sam grinned at Danny.

"Yeah, Danny. Admit it, you're camera shy." Danny glared at his two friends, looking at one grinning face to the next. Sighing, he admited defeat.

"Ok, so I might be a little camera shy."

Danny talked louder as Tucker muttered, "A little!"

"But the main reason is that I just don't know what to say to them."

"What to say to who?" Valerie asked, walking up behind Danny. Danny yelped, practically jumping five feet in the air.

Sam marched around and stood in front of Danny as he tried to regain his dignity.

"What do you want?" Sam hissed, glaring daggers at Valerie.

"To talk to Danny, alone!" Valerie said, returning Sam's glare.

"Uh, Sam?" Danny tapped Sam on the shoulder.(Danny had forgotten to tell his two friends about Valerie's call, too caught up in telling them about all the people calling to thank him.)Sam ignored him as she continued her staring contest with Valerie.

"Sam!" Danny sighed, hoping that she was at least listening to him. "It's ok Sam, she apologized for attacking me as Danny Phantom. She's not going to hurt me."

Sam continued to glare at Valerie as she smiled triumphantly back at Sam. Her voice turning sweeter as she directed her question towards Danny, Valerie asked, "So, is the broom closet ok? I want to talk to you in private." Sam's face turned bright red, her fists clenching at her sides.

"Sounds great to me! Any place where people can't stare at me." Danny said, motioning to the group of girls who gasped when Danny looked over at them with a dejected sigh.

The two of them left Sam steaming in the middle of the hallway.

Tucker inched over to her nervously.

"Well, it looks like Valerie still likes Danny, even if he is Danny Phantom." Tucker said with a nervous laugh, slightly jealous of his friend.

Sam could only manage a slight growl. Tucker backed away nervously.

"So, heh… How about we go save Danny a seat in the lunch room?"

* * *

Valerie closed the door behind her as Danny turned on the light bulb that swung overhead. Valerie turned towards Danny with her arms crossed. 

"I want to know everything." She said firmly. Danny sighed, resigning to telling the whole story again.

"Well, it starts off like this..."

Valerie listened attentively as Danny told her almost everything, (He still left out the Ember incident)but he did tell her aboutVlad's true identity.

"WHAT!"

Danny scowled, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, and he has twenty years of experience on me. Which means that he always kicks my butt." _Although that's all going to change this weekend._ Danny thought with a grin.

"Vlad…_Masters_? The one who _helped_ me?" Valerie asked, incredulous. Danny looked up at her, grinning sheepishly and rubbing his neck.

"Yeah, um, he kinda, well… he sorta..."

"Spit-it-out"

"He kinda used you as a pawn." Danny said in a rush. Valerie glared at him as Danny shrank back, his hands held protectively in front of him.

"His words, not mine!" Danny squeaked. Valerie huffed.

"What did he want to use me for, anyway?"

"Well," Danny rolled his eyes, a good excuse for not looking at Valerie when he said the next part. "Mainly to hunt me down"

"…oh." An awkward silence settled over the two. Danny suddenly found the floor quite interesting.

"I-I really am sorry." Valerie finally spoke up, her voice quiet.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Danny grinned at her. "I'm just glad you're on my side now! …you have really good aim." He added as an afterthought, rubbing his arm. Valerie was thankful for her dark skin as she felt her face heat up.

Danny stared at the floor again, wondering what else to say.

"So," Danny looked up as Valerie spoke, "What are you going to do now"

"Um…what?" He looked at her quizzically.

"Y'know, what are you going to do now that everyone knows"

"Oh, that." Danny paused, he hadn't really thought about it. "Well, I guess I'll just do the same thing I always do." He said with a shrug.

"Even though every one hates you?" Danny looked at the floor, his eyes shadowed.

"Sorry, I mean, not everyone hates you. It's just because Paulina and Dash hate you, all the wannabe populars follow their lead without a second thought." Valerie quickly amended, mentally kicking herself.

"It's ok, I really don't care what they think anyway."

"...Danny, you're a horrible liar"

Danny looked up at Valerie smiling at him.

"Yeah, you're right." He sighed, he wondered what else to say, not realizing words were already spilling out of his mouth.  
"…after it happened, after everyone found out, I thought the whole world hated me." Danny paused, taking a shuddering breath. He realized what he had justsaid, but continued anyway.

"I was so sure that if the people that I protected everyday rejected me…" _That if even the girl who had loved the hero I had once been rejected me…_ "…then everyone would reject me, think of me as a freak like they did."

"What? No way! High schoolers are just shallow and apathetic! …well, most high school students." Valerie said with a slight grin at Danny. "The rest of the world can actually see and admit that without Danny Phantom, they'd be in a whole lot of trouble." He smiled at her, feeling grateful.

"Fortunately for me, you are right. Well, about the rest of the world part, at least." Valerie nodded, understanding.

"I wasn't the only one who called you that night, was I?" Danny shook his head.

"A lot of people called, thanking me for helping the town. Some of them even calling me a hero…" Danny stared at the floor, remembering.

After a short silence, Danny looked up at Valerie with a smirk. "Even Lancer called me." Valerie burst out laughing.

"Mr. Lancer called you? What did he say?" Danny grinned, replaying his teachers call in his head.

"Well…"

* * *

Danny entered the lunchroom, avoiding the stares of the other students as he quickly found his two friends and rushed over, sitting down next to Sam. 

Tucker looked up instantly, glad his friend was here. Sam hadn't said a word since Danny had left, and Tucker had since given up trying to strike up a conversation with her.Instead, he had sat at the table nervously, the silence getting to him like nothing else could.

"Hey Danny! What did Valerie say"

"She wanted to know about everything, so I told her." Danny said absently, looking at his food hungrily. (Tucker and Sam had brought over food for him, knowing he wouldn't want to stand in line)

"Ha, I bet she totally freaked about the Ember thing." Tucker said with a laugh. Danny looked at his friend questioningly.

"I didn't tell her about that… Why would she freak over that?" Tucker stared at his friend, wondering if he was joking. He wasn't. Danny had no clue that Valerie had a thing for him.

"Erm, oh… I… I think she was really into Ember"

"Oh," Danny said, not quite convinced. He stared at his friend for a while longer before continuing. "But I did tell her about Plasmius, and she totally freaked out over that!" Dannygrinned as he began to shovel food into his mouth. Sam looked over at him, curious despite herself.

"What did she say?"

"Welmp," Danny swallowed, then, with a laugh, began to tell his two best friends everything.

Just as Danny had finished telling his friends what had happened in the broom closet, the doors to the cafeteria slammed open, framing a frantic girl. She quickly spotted Danny and ran over to his table, her hands shaking.

The usual noise in the lunch room died down as the open doors let in faint shouts and crashes. As one, every student in the lunchroom turned to watch the frantic girl make her way over to Danny.

Reaching Danny, she stopped, panting for breath. Danny stared at her in astonishment, unconsciously leaning towards Sam.

The girl finally caught her breath. Grabbing Danny's shirt with one hand and pointing desperately at the doors with the other, she looked at Danny fearfully before yelling.

"Ghost, attacking!"

* * *

Oh man, how the tables have turned! Haha, whew... 

Heh, anyway...

This chapter and the next chapter used to be one big chapter, but I cut it down into two just because it was so long. Lots a talkin' in this chapter, next chapter is when all of the action starts. Yay action!

Oh, and I hope this chapter helped to better explain Danny's reaction in chapter 4!

So, updates might slow down a little bit just because it gets so crazy at my house during the holidays. Lot's of stuff to do and what not. Ugh, plus I still have practice on monday thru thursday. But enough about my crazy life!

First of all, (and sorry for the shortness of this but I'm being held at key point to make sure I hurry this up,) Yes! Seems like everyone liked the reactions of the city and his parents... and Lancer! Oh my gosh! I completely spaced on the boy from the Christmas ep, if I get the time I'll go back and add him in! Does calculus have any point besides tormenting hopeful students? Oh, and THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! I hope the rest of this story lives up to your expectations. And here's a great holiday lesson for everyone, never give your friends your keys! (Ow! Damn keys are pointy!)

Happy Holidays! Oh, and review please!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Sadly, no.

This chapter was so fun to write! I'd sorta forgotten about it until I started typing it up. (I actually didn't mind the typing part this time!) Oh, right, here's what happened last time, in case y'all forgot.

* * *

_Just as Danny had finished telling his friends what had happened in the broom closet, the doors to the cafeteria slammed open, framing a frantic girl. She quickly spotted Danny and ran over to his table, her hands shaking. _

_The usual noise in the lunch room died down as the open doors let in faint shouts and crashes. As one, every student in the lunchroom turned to watch the frantic girl make her way over to Danny._

_Reaching Danny, she stopped, panting for breath. Danny stared at her in astonishment, unconsciously leaning towards Sam. _

_The girl finally caught her breath. Grabbing Danny's shirt with one hand and pointing desperately at the doors with the other, she looked at Danny fearfully before yelling.  
"Ghost, attacking!"

* * *

_

So, without further ado, here's chapter 7!

* * *

She sucked in a huge breath, staring at Danny, then continued, "Aren't you going to help?" She continued to stare at Danny as understanding finally dawned on his face. 

"Gho …Oh! Oh, right." He looked around nervously at all of the students staring at him silently. The girl let go of his shirt, staring behind her fearfully as another crash echoed through the open cafeteria doors.

"Stay here." He said forcefully, standing up. Tucker and Sam stood up with him, following him as he ran out of the cafeteria, closing the doors behind them.

The students watched the doors as a brilliant white flash shot through the cracks between the doors, some sort of muffled cry accompanying it. Everyone stared at each other for a second, wondering what was going on behind those two doors.

Then, as if by some silent signal, every single student jumped up and rushed towards the doors, wanting to see Danny Fenton in action.

* * *

Danny rushed through the double doors, knowing his two faithful friends were right behind him. He heard the two doors close behind him as he looked up and down the hallway spreading out to his left and right, his mind focusing solely on finding the ghost. It must have been far away, since he couldn't sense it. 

Another crash floated down the hallway to his wary form. Looking down to the right, Danny jumped forward, shouting "Goin' ghost!" as two rings flashed into existence and transformed him into Danny Phantom.

He shot down the hallway, his tail trailing behind him as his mind ran through all of the possible ghosts that could be terrorizing the school. _Oh, if it's Skulker again…_ Danny growled low in his throat, his teeth grinding.

Lockers flew by him as he neared the door behind which all of the noises were coming from.

As he neared a particularly loud crash rattled the door, breaking it off of it's hinges and propelling it across the hallway into a set of lockers.

Danny stopped and stared at the dented lockers in astonishment. _Good thing my locker's in a different hallway!_ Danny thought, remembering a certain haunted locker.

"Whoa. I did not mean for that to happen!" A familiar voice yelled from inside the room.

_Wait a minute,_ Danny looked down at the door, noticing something burnt underneath it. _It can't be…_ Danny's heart sunk as he saw the black remains of a…

"For I am the Box Ghost!" Danny glared dejectedly at the black cardboard remains of a box that was stuck underneath the shattered door.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker arrived, panting. Danny glanced over at his friends, giving them an exasperated look and shrugging.

"Don't worry, it's only the Box Ghost." Sam shook her head, her expression worried.

"It's not that, it's-" She was interrupted as the Box Ghost flew out of the room, having finally noticed Danny floating just outside of it.

"Danny Phantom! Beware!" The Box Ghost waved his arms menacingly at the ghost boy floating calmly in front of him. Danny just sighed.

"Can we just get this over with?" Sam and Tucker looked behind them nervously as they heard the stampede of students getting closer.

Danny was too focused on the Box Ghost to notice anything else. Unfortunately for Danny, the ghost that floated in front of him (still waving his arms around menacingly) was smarter then he sometimes acted. (Yes, amazing isn't it?) The Box Ghost's eyes narrowed on the wreckage behind Danny, his arms stopping in midwave.

Danny noticed what he was looking at, his stomach sinking when he realized what the ghost must be thinking.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny warned as the ghost turned around, flying back into the room with a, "Ha HA! Beware!"

Muttering curses under his breath, Danny shot into the science room, the Box Ghost right in front of him.

Sam and Tucker turned around to see their fellow students come to a screeching halt right in front of them. With all eyes on them (Danny had already disappeared inside the science room) Sam decided to take advantage of all of the attention her and Tucker were getting.

"Students of Casper High!" she yelled,"Do you know what horrible crimes happen in that room?" Sam pointed to the science room as all of the students craned their necks around, trying to glance inside. "There are innocent frogs that are mur-"

Sam was cut off as another explosion rocked the school, Danny's body creating a new window in the wall. Danny hit the opposite wall of lockers with a grunt, sliding down to the floor as debris rained down around him.

All of the students gasped as the Box Ghost floated out of the hole, boxes surrounded by green energy floating behind him. Sam looked closely at one of the boxes, seeing bright red letters spell out 'CAUTION: EXPLOSIVE.' On the other side it listed something about compressed flour.

Danny groaned, rubbing his head and shaking pieces of singed cardboard out of his hair.

"Beware!" The Box Ghost waved his arms around. "For my newfound boom boxes," he took a second to laugh at his own joke, "will easily defeat you, Danny Phantom!"

His green eyes flaring open suddenly, Danny shot up into the air and sent the Box Ghost reeling back into the room with a well-aimed punch. Green fire igniting on his hands, Danny aimed two powerful blasts into the room as he charged in after the Box Ghost.

The hallway was dead silent as the students stared at the giant hole where green flashes continued to emanate from.

"Wow…" Someone in the back muttered. Tucker glanced back, looking for a face.

Sam elbowed him, motioning for him to stay there. He stared at her as she reached into her backpack, taking out her personal Fenton Thermos. (Each of the three friends had one.) With a determined look on her face, Sam dashed into the science lab, leaving Tucker behind to make sure none of the other students interfered.

Sam entered what looked like a war zone, which it sort of was. The ground shook again as the Box Ghost blocked one of Danny's blasts with a boom box. Danny yelled as he was rocketed out of the ensuing black cloud, the soot turning his white hair gray.

Stopping himself, Danny's fierce green eyes darted around, searching for the Box Ghost.

"Danny! Behind you!" Sam shouted. Danny spun around just in time to see a wall of brown explode as the Box Ghost detonated one of his boom boxes.

"Aaaaah! Ooof!" Danny flew back into Sam, the two rolling into the wall behind them. Sam slowlyopened her eyesto see Danny's soot covered hair obscuring her vision.

"Here… ugh. You're going to need this." Sam muttered into the back of Danny's head as she dug her arm out from underneath him and held the Fenton Thermos in front of his face. Sam felt Danny grab her arm as the familiar feeling of intangibility washed over her. She opened her mouth, a question formingwhenDanny's voicecut though, yellingout a warning.

"Hold on!"

Intense pressure suddenly ripped through her eardrums, an explosion of black filling her vision as her mind screamed, her ears ringing. Her world spun in circles, all of her nerves on fire. She clung desperately to Danny's back, her mind trying to grasp what had just happened.

The world finally righted itself, and Sam's stomach couldn't have been more grateful.

Sam opened her eyes slowly, her vision still spinning.

"Unngh." Sam groaned as she quickly closed her eyes. What she had managed to see was Danny turning his head around, his eyes worried as he tried to get a good look at his friend that was still clinging to his back.

"Sam, are you ok?" Danny asked worriedly. Sam shook her head slowly, her head throbbing with every movement. Danny's tone changed suddenly, warning thick in his voice.

"Hang on Sam!" Sam felt her stomach drop as Danny dove towards the ground, dragging her along for the ride.

"You can't escape my boom boxes of DOOM!" The Box Ghost yelled from somewhere behind Sam.

Sam freaked, her arms tightening around Danny as they continued their dive.

"Ack! …Sam! You're… choking… me!" Danny managed to stutter out. Sam quickly loosened her grip, blushing sheepishly.

Danny suddenly changed directions, leaving Sam's stomach behind. She felt an explosion rock through the air, intense heat brushing the right side of her face. The wind continued to whip through her hair as Danny flew, top speed, away from the Box Ghost.

"Eep!" Sam tried not to choke Danny again as he flipped around, turning her world up side down. Green flashes made it through her tightly closed eyelids as Danny fired green energy at the Box Ghost.

Curiosity finally getting the better of her, Sam cracked open her eyes.

Between Danny's silver hair that was flying in Sam's face, she saw the Box Ghost dodging Danny's blasts, his boom boxes trailing along behind him. She looked down fearfully at the grass rushing along far beneath the two, wondering when they had made it outside.

"Eeek!" Sam squeaked as another explosion shook the air behind them. She looked back to see the Box Ghost fall from a cloud of black smoke.

Danny stopped, floating a safe distance from the Box Ghost's soot covered form.

"Didn't your mother tell you to never play with fire?" Danny shouted. Sam peeked around Danny's shoulder as the ghost floated back up angrily. Danny had destroyed his last boom box, and, apparently, the Box Ghost wasn't very happy his new boxes of DOOM were gone.

As the Box Ghost started shouting his reply, Danny turned his head around, looking back at Sam with one green eye.

"Do you still have the Fenton Thermos?" He whispered.

"No, sorry Danny, I must've dropped it." Sam whispered back shakily. She almost made a joke about her being his new and improved backpack, but she just couldn't find the humor as she looked fearfully back at the ground, absently noticing a police car watching from the sidelines.

Danny nodded his head slowly, glancing back at the Box Ghost who was still ranting on about the superior power of boxes.

"That's ok, we'll just lure him back into the school and find the thermos." Danny whispered, looking back at Sam. Sam's eyes widened.

"What? Wait! N-AHHH!" Sam screamed as her stomach jumped up into her throat, Danny rushing towards the school.

"DAAAAAANNNNNYYYYY!" Sam screamed, closing her eyes and bracing herself as the giant brick wall of the school loomed in front of them. She shivered as she felt her body go intangible, closing her mouth in favor of keeping her lunch.

Opening her eyes slowly, Sam saw Danny rushing through a narrow hall towards a wall of lockers blocking their way. Sam opened her mouth to scream again, but choked on her words as Danny flew around the corner, almost throwing Sam off in the process.

Sam looked over at the blur of lockers rushing by, her face turning green as Danny sped down the new hallway. Sam heard the Box Ghost's voice as it chased them through the maze they were currently speeding through.

"You may have destroyed my boxes of doom, Danny Phantom, but you cannot destroy the Box Ghost! Beware"

Sam looked back, her hair flying in her face.

"Ah! Danny! He's gaining!" She shouted, turning back around. Sam instantly regretted saying this as Danny nodded his head and immediately sped up.

Sam gulped and hung on for dear life.

Danny must have recognized where they were, as he angled his body up, then dove down into the ground, turning them intangible just before they hit the floor. Sam almost swallowed her tongue.

_What, does he **enjoy **torturing me!_ She thought desperately, her eyes wide as Danny shot through another solid wall. She mentally promised to _kill _Danny if the Box Ghost didn't do it first.

"There it is!" Danny shouted. Sam peeled her eyes off of the walls rushing by to spot a green dot in the distance. It took exactly two seconds for the green dot to become a full sized thermos. It's true, Sam counted.

Danny swooped down, snatching the thermos off of the ground and spinning around, almost throwing Sam off again.

Sam saw the Box Ghost skid to a halt, seeing the thermos in Danny's hand. He started to turn around, ready to shoot off in the opposite direction. But Danny was too fast for him.

Blue light shot out, catching the Box Ghost just as he kicked his legs out behind him.

Sam sighed shakily, barely hearing Danny's remark about enjoying cylindrical objects for a change. The blue light disappeared, taking the Box Ghost with it with a parting 'Beware!'

Danny finally floated down to the oh so sweet, perfectly solid ground. Sam let go of Danny with a heartfelt sigh.

Danny turned around, rubbing his ear. "Geeze, Sam! Think you could've screamed any louder?" Danny stopped short, seeing Sam's expression.

Sam stood glowering at Danny, her whole body shaking. Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in weeks, her face was paper white except for the soot marks on it, and her blood shot eyes were narrowed angrily at Danny.

Danny backed up, laughing nervously. One of Sam's eyes twitched.

* * *

"Don't you _ever _take me with you when you're fighting ever again!" Sam yelled at Danny as they walked down a hallway, taking their time getting to class. (Fortunately for them, Danny's student audience was still bound by the rules of high school, and was currently in class) 

"What, should I have just let the Box Ghost blow you up?" Sam glared at Danny for a second, then looked at the floor.

"…yes." Danny grinned at her. Trying to hide a blush he knew was coming, he casually put an arm around her shoulder.

"If I had known you were _scared_, I would've slowed down for you." Sam glared at him, her face red. (Although it wasn't because she was angry...)

"I was not scared! I was just… concerned." She said airily. Thinking of something, she looked over at Danny.

"Hey, doesn't Valerie usually 'don her battle gear' whenever there's a ghost around?" Danny laughed guiltily at that.

"I think her Dad took her equipment away after he found out."

"Ouch"

"Yeah..."

They walked in silence for a while, both still blushing furiously as Danny's arm was still resting around Sam's shoulder. That is, until a voice interrupted them from behind.

"Danny Phantom?" Danny turned around, pulling his arm off of Sam.

"Yeah?" At the end of the hallway stood a police officer, his kind face looking unusually serious.

"I need you to answer some questions for me."

* * *

Heh heh, yeah. Another cliffy... 

I've always _really_ wanted to do something where Sam got to experience first hand what a ghost fight was like, so that's where I got the second part of this chapter from. Hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it!

I kinda changed this, to make it less confusing... So, (MissM) Too bad she can't do anything about it, though... darn parents. Box Ghost! He's my fav. (SleepW) I managed to update on time! Yay, pleasent dreams. And thanks once again! Seriously! (Rahkan) It probably would have, but I needed the students to know about his fight, instead of him just slipping off. So, erm, I blamed the distance! ...heh.(Crazy) Thanks! And here's your update! (CaptianD) Oh man, a giant brawl! I'll have to think about that for later. Sadly, no Dark Danny, although that would create quite an outrage! (EnigP) Hey! You're back! How was your trip? And thanks! (ObiQ) I'm so glad you like the story thus far! Oh, and nice predictions! _Adopts Gandhi voice _Ah, you think, but do you know? ...ah, just ignore me, I'm being crazy again. Oh, and thanks for the alert, erm, thingy!

Oh and if you guys have any guesses about anything in this story, say them! I probably won't answer them, expecially if they are right or close to right, but it's still fun to guess, right? Oh, and if you notice something that seems strange or something missing, I (hopefully) didn't forget about it, and it'll probably come into play later.

...yes, eeeexcelent... (rubs hands together)

You guys are awesome! Reveiws are too!


	8. Chapter 8

First of all, I'm leaving to visit some relatives the day after Christmas, so I don't know when I'll be able to update next. If fate likes me, then I'll be able to salvage a working computer at my grandparents house and not lose patience withthe ancient and painfully slow internet connection all grandparentsseem to love. If fate doesn't like me, well, then it'll be at least a week before my next update.

Okay! Because of that,this chapter, except for the beginning, is mainly just a fun chapter.So, I hope you like it and maybe have a few laughs in between!

Disclaimer: Huh uh. Not mine.

Have you been good? Well, no matter, cause here'schapter 8!

* * *

Sam sat in class, her mind no where even near the class room. It was frantically running through what might be going on with Danny and the police officer. Danny had gone off with him after the officer had asked for a moment of the ghost boy's time. Which had left Sam to wander off to class alone, her worried mind thinking of the worst.

Her and Tucker had already talked to the police the day after Danny had been exposed, along with Danny's family. (Jazz had come down after tending to Danny) They had explained everything, including what had really happened when Danny had attacked the mayor, and when Danny had gone on a stealing spree. The last one really seemed to worry the police, since it showed just what Danny could do if he really wanted to.

That was what was now worring Sam; how were the police going to deal with that potential threat?

She sighed impatiently as she looked at the clock once again. _One minute left…come on!_

After what seemed like an hour, the minute hand finally inched forward, making it three o'clock.

Sam bolted out the door just as the bell rang, setting the students free for the weekend. Sam marched down the hall, trying to ignore the buzzing gossip running through the hallways. Students bumped past her as she pushed her way through, snippets of conversations reaching her ears as she continued towards Danny's locker.

"Did you see...?"

"He smashed right through the wall! Then he just stood up, like it was nothing!"

"…a good thing he's on our side or else..."

"…did the other ghost call himself… the box ghost?"

"Maybe he said boss..."

"…and then he started firing green blasts, like out of Star Wars or something...!"

Sam shoved through a particularly dense group of students, finally reaching Danny's locker.

"Sam!" Tucker looked relieved to see one of his friends. "Did you two catch the ghost?" Tucker looked around, "Where is Danny, anyway."

"He's not with you?" Tucker shook his head. Sam's shoulders slumped as she looked around, trying to spot Danny in the crowd. With no luck, she began to fill Tucker in about what had happened.

Sam saw a door open down the hallway as a black haired boy stepped out and looked timidly around the crowded hallway. He backed up nervously as a few students realized who he was and ran over, questions spilling out of their mouths. Soon he was completely surrounded, much to his dismay.

"Danny!" Danny looked down the hallway, spotting his two friends waving at himthrough the crowd of students that were impatiently asking for a recount of today's fight. He let out a breath of relief as he triedto shoo the crowd awayso that he could get over to his friends. When that failed horribly, helooked around nervously before just turning invisible andphasing through everyone.

After their initial shock, the crowd of students decided that the weekend was more interesting then chasingaround an invisible boy(and trying to avoid the glares of avery determined looking goth). So, with a shrug,therest of the students left for the Nasty Burger to continue discussing today's events.

Soon, Sam, Tucker, and the now visible Danny were the only ones leftin the hallway.

"What did the police want?" Sam asked anxiously after all of the students had left. Danny shrugged.

"Just wanted to know what happened, they said to report to them after each fight from here on. Oh, and they wanted to know about the Box Ghost and my other enemies." Danny looked puzzled for a second. "They seemed to know a lot about them already though..."

Danny didn't notice Sam and Tucker exchange guilty looks as he was too distracted by scooting over behind Sam, his shy glance on Paulina walking past with Star by her side.

After Paulina was out of sight, Danny looked back at his two friends, smiling suddenly. "Hey, did you know that my parents are helping to make standard ghost pistols for the police? My dad told me this morning, and they even get a big paycheck for it!"

"Score!" Tucker said, absently wondering if he could make any money off of his knowledge of the ghost zone. Danny looked around the hallway nervously as another group of students wandered by, shooting hidden glances at Danny and whispering the whole time.

"I can't believe one little ghost fight caused so much fuss!" Danny admitted after the group had disappeared around the corner. "I wish there was some place I could go without everyone staring at me."

"Hey," Sam cut in. "Do you guys want to hang out at my place tonight? There's no one else there, and we don't have to worry about homework or anything since it's a Friday." The two boys looked at each other, then broke out into grins.

"Party at the Manson mansion!" Tucker yelled, high fiving Danny. Sam rolled her eyes, quickly looking around to make sure no one else was around to hear that. She really didn't want anyone else to know she was filthy rich.

* * *

Sam was leading the way out of the school when she stopped. Turning around, she quickly pushed Danny backwards, away from the doors.

"Wha- Sam, what are you doing?" Danny asked, trying to peek over Sam's shoulders. Tucker looked through the windows on the double doors curiously. One glance, and then he gulped, turning back around to Danny and Sam.

"Wow, if you're camera shy, then the school grounds must be your personal nightmare." Tucker stated, giving the doors that lead out of the school one last glance. Danny paled.

"There are cameras out there?" He asked nervously, eyeing the doors warily.

"I would guess at least one camera from every news station in Amity Park, and then some." Sam said dryly, still blocking Danny from the door. Tucker nodded his head, looking out the window again. Danny looked at the doors cautiously, then a grin suddenly spread across his face.

"Here," Danny said, holding out his hands as his voice regained it's confidence. "I know how to get past them."

Tucker took his hand instantly.

Both boys looked over at Sam, who was regarding Danny's hand warily.

"You guys wouldn't mind walking, would you?" She asked. Tucker looked at her questioningly as comprehension dawned on Danny's face.

"We can walk if you want, Sam." Danny said, his voice kind as he tried to hide a smile. Sam instantly took his hand.

"Let's go then!" Sam said as Tucker continued to look between his friends, confused.

Danny concentrated, turning him and his two friends invisible and intangible. With that, the three friends walked, unnoticed, through the front doors of the school.

Danny looked around in astonishment. Almost every inch of the lawn in front of his school was being trampled by either camera equipment and news crews or reporters with fake smiles on. Various students were standing around, being hurriedly interviewed as the reporters kept glancing at the school doors, probably waiting for him to exit. Every crew looked like they were ready to race towards the doors of the school at the slightest sign of the ghost boy.

Danny shuddered, immensely glad that Sam had sharp eyes. He quickened his pace, pulling his two friends along as they made their waytowards Sam's house.

* * *

"Where are your parents anyway?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow at the empty mansion the trio now stood in. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Some luxury cruise, they even tried to get me to go along." Sam shuddered.

_Heh, Sam on a luxury cruise with her parents._ Danny visualized Sam's mom trying to get Sam to try on a pink bathing suit. With that, his mind wandered off into less appropriate areas as Sam spoke up again.

"Think about it, we have the rest of the afternoon off; your parents can take care of the ghost thing for a day." Danny shrugged. "Besides, we could use a break. And we have a home theater, bowling alley," Sam ticked off her fingers, "A jumbo fridge full of food," Sam stopped, shocked. Both Tucker and Danny had run off at the mention of a practically endless food source.

After a second, she shook her head, muttering something that sounded like _Boys_ and followed the skid marks to the kitchen.

Tucker reached the giant fridge first and stopped dead, his mouth hanging open. Danny stopped next to his friend, staring up at the fridge in awe.

"Pinch me." Tucker whispered. Danny obliged.

"Ow!" The two friends looked at each other, grinning.

"Endless food." They both murmured, reaching shaking hands towards the door.

Sam walked into the kitchen, her arms crossed and her eyebrows dangerously high.

The two boys each grabbed the handle, and with their breaths held, yanked open the fridge. There was a second where they both just stared at the open doors, then Tucker collapsed to the floor, his hands covering his face.

"Why? Why must Sam be a vegetarian?" He asked his hands. Danny smirked down at him. The open fridge was full of vegetables, fruits, some frozen loaves of bread, and some brown blobs that Danny could only describe as mud pies.

Sam held up a phone.

"Anyone up for a relaxing night full of pizza and pop?" Tucker shot up, looking like he had just been asked out by a cheerleader. "YES!"

* * *

Three hours and several pizza boxes and pop cans later, the trio sat back, their stomachs bulging. They were downstairs in Sam's giant theater room, lounging around on a giant sofa.

Thanks to the insane amounts of sugar in soda drinks, the three friends were _just a little_ giddy.

Tucker sat surrounded by empty pop cans, unable to stop talking about his PDA and technology in general (along with the pictures he could download…).

Danny kept snickering and poking Sam, who was fighting back with a deflated pillow. One loud smack later and Danny was on his stomach, Sam sitting on his back.

"Vengeance!" She yelled, giggling. She discarded the pillow and started to poke Danny till she found where he was ticklish. Tucker's voice rose several notches to be heard over the ensuing bust of laughter from Danny.

While gasping for breath, Danny tried to fend off Sam's pokes and dislodge her all at the same time, and all only with one arm. (The other was trapt underneath him) Needless to say, Sam had no problem pinning down his arm and continuing to poke him.

"N- HA! No fair, HA HA HA! Sam!" Danny yelled between bursts of laughter. Sam just giggled and kept poking him. Grinning up at Sam (but still laughing) Danny's eyes suddenly turned green. He phased through her and hovered over her head in his black and white jumpsuit, gloating.

"Hey! You can't use ghost powers!" Sam yelled, indignant.

"Oh really?" Danny asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Tucker looked up at Sam's scream of mock horror. Sam was running around the huge room, covering her head as Danny flew after her, tickling whatever area she wasn't protecting. Sam's scream was cut off by laughter as Danny found out where Sam was ticklish.

Poor Danny, he never saw it coming. All he got out was a muffled "Umpf!" as Sam smacked him upside the head with the pillow she had thrown away earlier. Apparently, she had found it again.

Upon impact, the pillow exploded, which only encouraged the two of them because now they had the ultimate tickling weapon... a feather!

"En garde!" Sam yelled as she grabbed a feather out of the air and brandished it in front of her.

"En, en gar-Ack! Stupid feather!" Danny mumbled, fumbling around as a feather kept floating out of his grasp. Finally catching the feather, the two launched into combat. Tucker started yelling suggestions and cheering his two friends on as they danced around the red carpet, feathers held in front of them.

Danny saw an opening and lunged forward, tickling Sam's face. Sam went down laughing. Danny struck a pose and yelled heroically.

"Ha! Nobody can defeat Danny Phantom!" Sam recovered quickly and lunged at Danny.

"Ack!" Danny went down with Sam on top, her feather headed straight for Danny's face.

"I am the feather ghost!" Sam yelled over Danny's choked laughter. "Beware!" Sam continued to tickle Danny mercilessly, his laughs echoing around the room. He dropped his feather in an attempt to defend himself, only to have his free arm pinned down by Sam again.

This seemed like the sad end for Danny Phantom.

Tucker stood up and grabbed a feather, acting the part of helpful sidekick (and, besides, he couldn't let Danny lose to a _girl_).

"I'll save ya buddy!" Tucker yelled as he ran towards the two, feather raised above his head heroically.

Sam looked up in time to see a white feather rushing towards her face.

"Aaaah! Ah-HA HAHA!" Sam went down hard, rolling to get away from Tucker's feather.

Danny jumped up, his grin almost touching both his ears, and quickly retrieved his feather. Sam was still deftly avoiding Tucker's feather, but that was all about to change. Danny jumped into the fray with a yell. After a quick and fairly one-sided wrestle, the two boys managed to pin Sam down, their feathers held over her head menacingly.

"Tell us, Sam, where did you hide that picture of me and Danny hugging?" Tucker asked Sam, waving his feather around threateningly. Sam grinned up at Tucker, remembering the photo with a laugh. She tried to wipe the smile off of her face (and only partly succeeded) as she took on a rebellious voice

.  
"I'll never tell ya, copper!" Danny's feather descended, and Sam burst out laughing as he tickled her neck with a sly grin.

"Now I'll ask agai-… what?" Sam was looking pointedly at Tucker, then switching her eyes over to Danny, then looking at Tucker pointedly again. As Danny tried to get his sugar coated brain to figure out what in the world was going on, Tucker suddenly grinned and let go of Sam.

"Huh?" Was all Danny managed to get out as Tucker and Sam turned their grinning faces towards him and lunged. Danny went intangible and the two fell through him.

"Oh, I see how it is. You two think you can take on me, huh?" Danny taunted as he floated over his two friends. "Well, guess aga-ACK"

Sam tackled Danny to the ground, losing her feather in the process. But that didn't stop her. She knew exactly where Danny was ticklish by now.

"Tucker! Get his feet!" She grinned as she heard Tucker complain about how Danny's feet stunk.

"Hey!" Danny yelled while fending off Sam. "My feet smell great compared to yours!" Sam finally got through Danny's defenses, grinning as Danny once again burst out laughing. Tucker's voice rose over the laughter.

"Sam! I can't get Danny's boots off! …and my feet don't stink!" Sam took a second to look back at Danny's white boots.

Danny finally stopped laughing long enough so that he could concentrate and phase through the floor. Sam and Tucker stood up warily, looking around for Danny. A few minutes passed, the two friends exchanging confused looks when…

_Pop!_

"Aaah!" Tucker jumped in surprise, going cross-eyed as he tried to focus on the suction-cupped dart that was currently vibrating on his forehead.

_Pop!_

Sam went cross-eyed as well.

Danny became visible again, his body shaking with barely suppressed laughter, a toy dart gun held loosely in his hand.

"You should've seen the look on your faces!" Danny managed to get out between choked laughter.

Tucker glared up at Danny as he tried to pull the dart off of his face.

Sam took one look at the dart gun, then ran out of the room. Danny was just about to chase after her, dart gun in hand, when she came back in, grinning.

Held in her hand was bazooka sized toy dart gun.

"Oh, cra-AAAHH!" Danny reeled back, a giant suction cupped dart stuck to his cheek.

_THUNK!_ Another one landed on his chest. Danny stared down at it in astonishment. Tucker spoke up, his words mirroring Danny's thoughts.

"That is the biggest freaking dart I have ever seen!" Sam just grinned, turning her dart gun on steroids towards Tucker.

Without a second thought, Danny dove for his doomed friend, grabbing Tucker and shooting off through the wall. After a few minutes, he and Tucker phased back into the room, a dart gun in both of their hands, a grin plastered on both of their faces.

"Oh Saaaaaaaam." Tucker called. Sam must have figured out what the two were doing and had taken cover before the two boys returned fully armed.

"Sam?"

_THUNK!_

"Oh, you are so going down!" Tucker yelled, a giant dart stuck to the side of his face.

And with that, a giant war of hide and seek, then shoot and run away laughing your head off, started that lasted most of the night. (Sam's first shot against Tucker was later affectionately dubbed 'the shot heard round the room)  
At around midnight, the three friends said goodbye, each heading their separate ways.

* * *

Danny opened the door to his house slowly, his eyelids drooping, his shoulders slumped and…

"Danny! Is that a hickey?" His mom rushed over, grabbing his head and turning it to better look at the perfectly round, red mark on his cheek. Danny's face heated up instantly, and he opened his mouth to explain.

"_What_!" His dad rushed in from the kitchen, grabbing Danny's head from Maddie and getting so close his breath tickled Danny's now very bright red cheek. Danny's mumbled explanations went unheard (mainly because Jack's giant hand was covering Danny's mouth) and, getting frustrated, Danny phased out of his dad's grip and stumbled back, his explanation falling out of his mouth.

"Ahh! No! It's not a hickey! It's from a dart!"

"What!" Both his parents screamed, thinking maybe Skulker had come back and shot their son.

"No! I mean, a toy dart! With a suction cup on the end!" Danny waved his arms around desperately. Both his parents gave him a blank look. Then Maddie smiled, understanding.

"Oh! You, Sam and Tucker must havehung out after school, didn't you?" Jack frowned suddenly, his booming voice echoing through the house.

"Hey! If you weren't ghost hunting, then you should have been back here by your ten o'clock curfew!" Danny shifted his feet nervously, grinning sheepishly up at his dad.

"Whew!" Danny faked a yawn, "I'm tired! I better," Danny started edging towards the stairs, "get up to bed." He turned around as he said the last, rushing up the stairs to the safety of his bedroom.

"Goodnight!" He yelled down the stairs.

"You better do your chores tomorrow, young man!" His dad's voice chased him into his room. He breathed a sigh of relief as he closed his door.

Danny smiled as he flopped onto his bed, thoughts of tomorrow's training chasing thoughts of what Vlad's face would look like when Danny finally beat him around his head. He closed his eyes, eagerly awaiting the weekend.

* * *

I kinda figured that it would take a few days for the news crews/cameras/newspapers/and the city in general to hear about Danny's identity, since at first it was just traveling by word of mouth.

Oh and by the way, it took more than a little, of a lot of sugar to make Sam act like that (That and the fact that Danny kept poking her!).

Wow, the reviews are really starting to shoot up. I'm... well, kinda surprised I gotta say. I will continue to say **THANK YOU!** like a billion times! But if there's something else you guys'd like, just tell me and I'll see what I can do!

Erm, so here I go...

(MissM)Heh, yeah. Destruction of school property. I wonder where theschool gets all of the money to keep up with all of the repairs?(Crazy) Thanks!I sorta got the idea fromreading theInuYasha comics. Those books are amazing!(ObiQ) _Looks around innocently_ Who, me? Nah, you must be mistaken. Ireally do hope you like the suspense part of the story though, because that's always what makes a good story for me! (PurpleD) Sweet! Thanks!I'm glad you thought it was funny, cause I was sure cracking up writing it!It'snice to know what I'm thinkinginmy crazy brain of mine actually makes it into the print.(Rakkan) Ha! That would've been hilarious! _Does bad impersonation of John Wanye_ "I'm gonna take you … ddddddowntown, Danny Phantom." Hee hee!(MasterP)Hey, whaddaya know, he has been missing… Hey, they should make a Danny Phantom themed roller coaster! Dude, that would be so sweet! (CaptainD) Heh, sorry. I already have the main antagonists all picked out, and he would kinda hog the limelight if I added him. Maybe my next story? (NightW) Keystone? Lucky! Wow, either you traveled far or I live pretty close to you. Ever been to Breckenridge or Beaver Creek? That's where I usually go.

This, in essence, is my Christmas chapter. All fuzzy and warm with sugary goodness! I hope you didn't mind the slight break in the story, it'll continue again sometime after Christmas. So…

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL! And I hope you allhave a great New Year!


	9. Chapter 9

Whew! I made it back! (And with my sanity still intact!)

Anywho, I finally got in at 3 o'clock this morning (my flight kept getting delayed), which turned out to be a good thing because now I have a plausible excuse for ditching school today. So now I have time to type this up! (After sleeping in til noon and playing my new game until my burning eyes practically fell out of my head! )

Let's see how this new format works out...

So, without any more delays, here's chapter 9!

* * *

Danny opened his eyes, a strange dream fading from his vision as he looked around his room. He had the strangest feeling, like there was something going on today that he should be excited about, something he had been looking forward to… _What was it again?_

Danny sat up instantly, a grin spreading across his face as he leapt out of bed and hurriedly got dressed.

Running down the stairs, his eyes searched through his house, coming to rest on something moving around in the kitchen.

"Mom!" Danny shouted, practically bouncing over to her and tugging on her arm. Maddie looked over at her son, just as excited as he was (She just hid it better).

"Hi sweetie!" Danny tugged on her arm again.

"C'mon! Lets go!"

"Now wait just a minute, young man, you need to do your chores and eat a decent meal before we start your training."

Danny groaned, remembering his chores he had left unfinished last night. He noticed Jazz grinning at him from the table, a newspaper held loosely in her hand. Danny's eyes narrowed when he saw his picture on the front page.

"Hey, can I see that?" Jazz looked down at the paper in her hand.

"What, this?" Jazz tried to subtly hide the paper behind her back. "There's really nothing that interesting, just, you know, the weather and…"

"Jazz."

"And the sports…"

"_Jazz!_"

"…and a police report." Jazz sighed, acting defeated as she handed Danny a page of the newspaper, keeping the front page and the rest of the newspaper hidden.

Danny walked over and grabbed the paper Jazz was holding out to him. With his full attention focused on the paper, he didn't notice his mom walk around behind Jazz, grab the rest of the paper, and quietly walk out of the room.

"Ghost Box Attacks School, Danny Phantom Defends his Classmates." Danny read softly. His eyes scanned through the article, stopping shortly on a picture of him hovering up in the air, Sam peaking around his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.

With a slight blush coloring his face as Danny remembered the feeling of Sam holding onto him, he hurriedly finished reading the rest of the article. When he was done, he looked up at his sister.

"This isn't so bad." He said, motioning to the article. It had mostly been about his fight with the Box Ghost, along with interviews from the students that had witnessed the attack and a description of the Box Ghost's powers provided by an interview with the police. The only bad part was when they had mentioned how he hadn't been able to stop the ghost from causing around a few thousand dollars worth of damage to the school.

He cringed at the number, wondering where the school was going to get the money to repair the damage.

Failing to notice the not-so-innocent look on his sister's face, Danny shrugged it off and set down the article.

* * *

Danny was busy finishing his last chore of cleaning up the dishes when the doorbell rang for about the millionth time that morning. (They had finally disconnected the phone after getting fed up with all of the phone calls.) Danny's dad stalked past, the newest invention he was working on clutched in his hand. His parents had been answering the door and the telephone all morning long, stubbornly telling Danny to stay where he was. 

Insanely curious, but under the watchful eye of his overbearing sister, Danny strained his ears to hear what was going on as he continued to scrub the pan in his hand.

"Mr. Fenton, tell me, " The words of some guy floated over to Danny right after he heard the door creak open. "how did-"

"I told you pesky reporters to LEAVE US ALONE!" Jack shouted. The whole house shook as Danny heard the door slam.

His dad walked by again, brushing his hands together with a satisfied smirk on his face. The invention that he had been carrying earlier was now gone. Danny was just opening his mouth to ask his dad what he had done when the doorbell rang again.

Before the ring had even stopped echoing through the house, a high pitched shriek followed it.

Jazz shot up from where she had been sitting at the table.

"Dad! What did you do?" Jack looked over at his wide-eyeddaughter.

"I put a small electrical charge on the doorbell!" He said happily. Jazz gaped at her father as he turned around to go back down to the lab to work, uninterrupted, on his other inventions.

Danny dropped the pan and ran over to the window, looking out to see a reporter walk towards his van, his hair sticking straight up and smoking slightly. His camera crew followed behind at a distance.

Danny grinned, looking very much like his dad at that moment. (Fortunately Danny didn't know that.)

* * *

Later on, down in the lab…

"No, sweetie, it's more like this." His mom crouched down, showing him the proper form. Danny tried again, his white hair falling in his eyes.

Maddie shook her head, coming over and moving Danny's feet farther apart. She stepped back, looking Danny up and down. Danny tried to quell his feelings about how awkward this was, considering he was in a skin-tight jumpsuit standing in a fighting position as his mom checked his form.

His thoughts were interrupted as his mom nodded her head. She instantly stepped back, smoothly dropping into the fighting position and then leaning her shoulders back as she demonstrated a high kick. Looking over at Danny she began to explain.

"Now, be sure to kick with the hardest part of your foot, which is here," She pointed to her heel, "and here." She ran her finger along the outside edge of her foot.

He nodded. _This shouldn't be too hard. _He thought as he made himself lighter, leaning back impossibly far and kicking his foot out, making sure to thrust his heel forward.

"That's great sweetie!" His mom yelled, clapping her hands together. Danny frowned. _She finds out I have ghost powers, helps to train me to better protect an entire city, and she still calls me sweetie. _He thought dejectedly.

"Is everything ok, sweetie?" She asked, noticing his expression. Danny cringed.

"Er,"

He was interrupted as the doorbell rang, followed shortly by a shriek.

Danny almost fell over laughing as his mom looked at him in confusion.

"Do I even want to know?" She asked overDanny's laughswith a raised eyebrow. Danny shook his head, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Well, your father can get the door," She said, lettingher soncatch his breath, "let's finish teaching you the basics."

* * *

After Maddie had gone over the high, mid and low kick, as well as several basic punches and jabs, she stepped back, grinning.

"Ready to test your skills?" She asked, getting into fighting position. Danny looked at his mom in astonishment.

"You want me to fight you?" He asked incredulously. His mom seemed to give a small shrug.

"Well it's not like this will be the first time." She said with a partially guilty expression. Danny grinned at his mom. _She does have a point there._

"Ok." He agreed, still a little uneasy."Can I use my powers?"

"Hmm, just use your flying ability. I want to give myself some chance." She said, not giving Danny anytime to respond as she leapt at him.

Danny's eyes widened when he saw his mom charging at him. _This is so I can beat Vlad, remember that. _He told himself, still watching his mom with wide eyes.

Hisinstincts finally kicked into action as she brought up her foot, twisting her body around into a spin.

Danny ducked down, letting his mom's foot whistle by above his head. Looking up, he saw her continue to spin around and crouch down as her foot swung around the second time. He jumped up, his mind scrambling for a plan when he felt his feet get yanked out from underneath him.

He hadn't jumped up fast enough.

Danny looked up at his mom from the floor, feeling extremely glad that she now knew that he was Danny Phantom.

"You can't just lay there Danny!" His mom yelled as she stepped back, giving Danny a chance to get up. He rolled away from his mom, pushing himself off of the ground with his arms and hovering a few inches about the ground.

"Watch your opponents stomach, it will give away their next action." She said, once again springing forward.

_How did she never beat me before this! _He thought as he dodged one of her punches.

Looking at his mom's torso as he backed up, Danny noticed her stomach tighten right before she swung her left leg towards Danny's feet.

He yanked his legs up underneath him, waiting until her leg had swung off to the side, leaving her slightly off balance.

Seeing an opening,hekicked his foot out, heel first, as he flew towards his mother. Closing his eyes,he turned his bodyintangible right before he hit.

Turning around from where he now stood behind her, Danny looked at his mom'sshocked face.

She turned around to face him fully, recovering quickly from her shock. "That was great, sweetie! You are learning this so fast!" She said, her voice proud. Danny rubbed the back of his neck, embaressed, but feeling extremely pleased.

"Thanks, mom."

"Ready for your next lesson?" Danny grinned, stepping back into the fighting position. His mom smiled happily as she began explaining how to block.

_I can't wait to fight another ghost! They won't stand a chance! _Danny thought excitedly as his mom began a lesson on blocking and dodging.

* * *

"Hey Tucker, is that you?" Sam quietly asked her cell phone. It had just interrupted her from her Internet surfing with the song from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

"Yeah, it's me." Tuckers usually cheery voice sounded darker as he answered. "Sam, have you been online recently?" Sam leaned back from her laptop screen, her face disappearing in shadows as she retreated from the blue light shining off of the screen.

"Yeah, I have." She said, realizing why Tucker had called. Tucker's worried voice continued.

"What are we going to do?" Sam looked back at the screen, Danny's green eyes staring back at her, right next to a shy looking blue eyed Danny Fenton.

"Tucker, don't most of the people think Danny is a hero?" She asked, remembering the phone calls Danny had told them about.

"Sam, didn't you read the paper this morning? There's a huge debate going on about whether Danny is a hero or a menace to the city."

"What?" Sam yelled, about ready to get up and search her house for the paper.

"Yeah," Tucker sounded depressed, but his voice lightenedslightly as he continued."I haven't checked the local Amity Park chat rooms yet, though. I've been too busy going through thousands of world-wide chat rooms." Tucker said, some pride creeping into his voice at his techno abilities. Sam slowly looked back at the screen, remembering the online articles she had read.

"What did they say?" She asked, the opinions of people in Amity Park suddenly seeming insignificant compared to what the _world _thought of Danny Phantom.

"Well, I've been trying to find the general opinion…"

"…and?" Sam asked impatiently, clutching the phone with white knuckles.

"And there are a lot of different opinions." Sam nodded her head, forgetting she was on the phone.

"Most of the people online think the whole thing is a hoax," Tucker said simply. "Since there really isn't any actual proof showing that Danny is half ghost, just the word of around fifty students that saw him transform."

"Ok, that makes sense." Sam said, feeling relieved. _Too bad almost everyone in Amity Park believed the fiftystudents. ...maybe all of the ghost attacks have finally opened up their minds. _Tucker continued, interrupting Sam's thoughts.

"And a lot of people… are afraid." Sam froze.

"Afraid of what?" She asked slowly, although she already knew the answer.

"They're afraid of Danny, and what he could do with ghost powers." Sam jumped up angrily, yelling into the phone.

"But Danny wouldn't hurt anyone! He protects us, risks his life for our safety!"

"…I know, Sam. But the rest of the world doesn't. They look at Danny and see a shy fourteen year old kid who has enough power to take out an army." Sam bit her lip nervously.

"Listen, Sam, I don't think there's anything we really have to worry about," Tucker said, "…yet." He added in an undertone. Sam caught the last word instantly.

"Yet!" She yelled, holding the phone in front of her face in bewilderment.

"Well, yeah," Tucker cleared his throat nervously. "See, right now, most of the world doesn't even believe in ghosts, despite the building evidence coming from Amity Park and Wisconsin." Tucker paused, letting his words sink in. "So, until people really begin to believe that the rumors are true, it sounds like the rest of the world is just going to sit back and watch."

"So it's all eyes on Danny." Sam stated quietly, looking at his picture on the Internet. Tucker didn't answer.

_Too bad he's camera shy. _She thought with dry humor before remembering what Tucker had said earlier.

"Tucker?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think will happen when they do realize that Danny is half ghost?" She asked, her voice uncharacteristically timid. Tucker paused, then his voice came through softly.

"…I don't know."

* * *

I hope this answered some of the questions a few of you had. Along with maybe creating some new questions!Mwa ha ha!..._cough_... anyway...

Oh yeah, and these next two weeks are going to be insanely busy for me as I desperately try and finish all of the giant, end-of-the-semester projects that I've been avoiding like the plague recently. (My school district is weird and the first semester ends two weeks after winter break. It ends on a Thursday, second semester starts the Friday before a three day weekend. Blegh.) So I will try and update like I usually do, but if I'm a little slow, that's why.

Now to the not-so-random-anymore stuff! (If you guys don't like this part, just tell me and I'll stop!)

(Conan) Thanks! (ObiQ) Yay! That was what I was going for! (MasterP) Heh heh, yeah, I liked that part too. And are you serious? A DP roller coaster? Where! (SleepW) Oops, I think I got your name wrong last time, heh sorry. Anyway, my mom was like that on this vacation as well. shakes head Maybe it's a mom thing? Heh, and my cousins had an eating contest while I was down there, they ate like five pizzas a piece! Oh, and thanks! (PurpleD) Oh man! Don't you hate it when that happens? At least none of your friends were around to laugh at you. Oh, and thanks! (Crazy) Yeah, Sam seems to beat the two boys at almost everything! I almost feel sorry for them ...almost. (MissM) Yeah, really. At least the Box Ghost and his boom boxes where gone! ... haha, the Box Ghost on a sugar high... (EnigP) Wow, I've never been there, is it nice? Well, if you miss stuff like that, just wait til you and your friends are old enough to drink! Haha, good times galore. ...not that I've ever done that, yet. (CaptainD) Hey, that gives me an idea... Hmm, can you imagine what would happen if _he _got ahold of the ring and the crown! And I really am sorry I couldn't fit him into this one. (ChaoticS) Thanks! Oh yeah, those poor reporters! Jack really gave them a shock! Haha...ha... ok, yeah, that was a horrible joke. (Angel) Why, here it is!

Right-o. Have I even mentioned that you guys are AMAZING! ...cause you are. Oh and I started writing a new story while I was in Florida, since I left the notebook with this story at home. But more on that later.

Reviews are amazing!


	10. Chapter 10

Good grief, I have a new respect for economists. Besides the fact that they must lead extremely boring lives.

Anyway, I only have finals week to make it through now. I'd dance but I'm too tired. ;

Dis: Not mine!

(Hums the batman tune)

Dah na nana nana nana CHAPTER 10!

* * *

"Mom! I need to patrol the city!" Danny yelled. His mom watched her son pace back and forth in front of her. Looking for all the world like a caged animal while she sat calmly on the couch.

He had been trapped inside the Fenton house all of Saturday, and he was determined to get out before the weekend ended. His mom spoke up, continuing the discussion that had been going on for quite a while now.

"Danny, it's not like I don't believe you can't handle any ghost."

"Yeah, you just don't think I can handle the press!" Danny interrupted, his voice angry and a little hurt. He heard his mom sigh. _So I was right. They really don't think I can deal with all of the attention I'm suddenly getting. _Danny turned his angry gaze towards his mother.

"Mom! I can deal with it!" He yelled throwing his arms into the air and beginning to pace again as he let them fall to his sides. _I've dealt with everything else that's come my way, even when my own parents started attacking me as the ghost bo- …er, man!_

"Why don't you let go for once and let me deal with this on my own! I'm not a little kid anymore. I thought you would realize that when you found out that I was Danny Phantom! But you still treat me like a little kid!" He paced faster, not even knowing what he was saying anymore, just knowing he needed to say it. "You're always calling me _sweetie _or _little _hero." He yelled out, feeling trapped and frustrated and, and… and weak in his parents eyes. "And I… I _hate_ that!"

Danny stopped short, realizing what he had yelled at his mom. He looked over at her, feeling like the worst person in the world. His mother was looking sadly at the floor, avoiding Danny's eyes.

"I-I didn't mean to say that." He said softly.

His mom sighed, looking resigned.

"I'm sorry swee- …Danny." His heart sank even more.

"Mom, I didn't mean that. I don't mind, really!" His mom looked up at him with a small smile.

"Now Danny, I may be over protective but I'm not stupid." She said simply. Danny walked over to his mom and sat down next to her.

"I know. And I really am sorry." He said, glad that his mom was smiling.

"Danny, if your father and I let you go ghost hunting today," She said, going back to the earlier argument, "would you mind if we helped you out?"

"Umm..." Danny remembered all of the times that his dad had tried to attack him with a tangled Fenton Fisher. His father wasn't exactly the best ghost fighter around. "Does it have to be both you and dad?"

"Danny, you know how much your father loves hunting ghosts." His mother tried to hide her smile after seeing Danny's dissapointed face. "Besides, everyone in the family can split up and patrol a different part of the city. It would make things a whole lot faster." Danny looked up at that.

"Go on." He said, his interest piqued. His mom couldn't quiet hide her smile that time.

"Your dad can take the northern part of the city, I'll take the southern, Jazz will patrol the eastern side, and you can patrol the western side. That way you'll still have time to do your homework tonight." Danny's face brightened _…this will actually make things a lot easier… and how did she know that I haven't done my homework yet? _Danny looked at his mom questioningly.

"Danny, you're a teenage boy." His mom, correctly guessing his look, said simply, "I'd be worried if you _had_ done your homework before the last second." She paused, getting the far off look signifying she was thinking about when she was young. "Besides, Jack always did the same thing."

Looking back at Danny, she reached out to ruffle his hair. Danny turned intangible without thinking.

Shrugging guiltily, he quickly turned around to go tell his dad and Jazz about the ghost patrol, missing the hurt look his mother gave him as she let her hand fall to her side.

* * *

Later that day...

Danny followed his mom down to the lab, excitement coursing through his veins. Finally, he could get out of the house!

His dad looked up, seeing two of his favorite people enter his domain.

"Danny! Maddie! I was just going over all of our malfunctioning equipment," He pointed to a pile of stuff his parents discarded because they had 'malfunctioned,' in other words, activated around Danny. Some of the inventions in the pile, however, were just inventions that the two hadn't had a chance to test yet. "Do you think I should bring some along for a real field test?" His dad asked the two excitedly.

"Umm…" Danny was cut off by his mom.

"That's a wonderful idea!" His mom rushed over and the two started going through the inventions like two little kids at a candy shop.

"What about this one?" Jack held up the Fenton Phones. (Jack hadn't been able to test them, so in the pile they had gone.)

"Oh, those work really well." Danny spoke up without thinking. His two parents stopped looking through the pile, turning their heads around slowly to face Danny.

"Uh, I sorta borrowed those when I fought Ember." He said with a nervous laugh. His two parents glanced at each other, then down at the pile, then back at Danny.

Jack slowly reached down and picked up another invention as Danny watched nervously.

"Does this one work?" Jack asked curiously. He held up the Fenton Peeler.

"Um, yeah."

Danny was suddenly surrounded by both his parents, his dad excitedly handing him devices and asking him how they worked. Danny stuttered out answers as his mom rushed off to get her notes.

"Heh, I use that one all the time." Danny backed away from the Fenton Thermos that was held in his face.

"Really! And it works?"

"Yeah, perfectly. Almost all of the ghosts in the ghost zone are afraid of it." Jack almost feinted from excitement. His eyes suddenly lit up, an idea forming in the back of his mind.

"Do you have a ghost in here right now?" Danny looked at the thermos, trying to remember.

"No, I emptied it after I caught the Box Ghost." His dad's face fell for about a second before he brightened and turned Danny around, pushing him up the stairs.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go catch us a ghost!" He burst out, his booming voice echoing around the lab. Danny grinned.

"Alright!"

* * *

Danny flew over the western side of the city, the Fenton Thermos hooked onto his belt, Fenton Phones in his ears so he could communicate with his family, and the Ghost Busters theme song playing in the back of his head.

_I'm surprised my dad hasn't made a Fenton Busters song yet. _He laughed and started to hum the Ghost Busters song, inserting his own words into it.

"If you see a lonely cat-loving ghost, who ya gonna call? Danny Phantom!"

He grinned as his new song reminded him of his new position.

If anyone in his family saw a ghost, they were to call Danny and ask him how powerful the ghost was and how to deal with it. If he thought it was too powerful for them to handle, then he would call his family together to help deal with the ghost.

Essentially, he was the appointed leader of the group. Which meant that he got to order his parent around! Danny spiraled around in midair, grinning.

The sun was just starting to inch down towards the horizon, it's rays warming Danny's back as he flew along, scanning the ground below him. A few of the tiny ant-like people pointed up as he passed above them, but so far, no ghosts.

His mom had told him sternly that if he found a ghost that was too powerful for him, that he was to call for back up as well. Danny had nodded obediently at that, knowing his mom wouldn't have let him go if he had refused.

Getting tired of the Ghost Busters song, Danny switched over to the Batman theme song.

"Dah na nana nana nana, PHAN-TOM!" He sung at the top of his voice, really getting into it. He was interrupted when his Fenton Phones crackled into life.

"Danny?" His sister's voice filtered through, "Is that you singing?" Danny choked in the middle of his song. _The phones were on the whole time? _

"Uh, um…" He was cut off as he spotted a black haired ghost below him.

"I've got to go!" He shouted into the phones, diving down towards the ghost and fumbling for the off switch on the tiny device in his ear.

He angled towards the alley the ghost floated in. She was moving her head around slowly like she was looking around calmly. It almost seemed like she was waiting for someone.

…in the very back of a dark alley.

That couldn't be good.

Danny swore he had fought that ghost before, she looked very familiar with her singed black dress and frazzled black hair.

He shrugged his shoulders and flew in for a closer look.

The ghost looked up at him calmly when he flew down in front of her, blocking the entrance of the alley. Danny gasped when he saw her calm golden eyes staring at him.

"YOU!"

"I was wondering if I would see you again." She said, her soft voice almost lost in the alley. Danny growled at her, an image of Tucker sucking him into the Fenton Thermos on her command flashing through his head.

Green fire exploded in his hands, casting eerie shadows across his face as he growled, his shadowed green eyes glowing fiercely.

Her expression changed instantly. She backed up nervously, her calm demeanor shattered and her eyes showing pure fear as she stared in horror at the fire cupped in Danny's hands.

Danny stopped in confusion, letting the fire die in his hands. He shrugged, reminding himself he had a job to do, and reached for his thermos. She continued to cower in the corner, her eyes closed as she relived some past trauma.

_She looks like a lost kid. _Danny thought with some pity, wondering how she had died. With one last glance, Danny sucked the cowering girl into the thermos. _Well, atleast it was easy. _He thought, staring at the thermos.

Danny was putting the cap on the thermos when he heard a muffled gasp. His green eyes flashing up towards the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the alley, Danny saw a camera pointed straight at his face. His body tensing slightly, he quickly turned around to fly off towards his house, far, far away from the camera.

Danny stopped, halfway crouched on the ground, when he spotted the entry to the alley clogged full of people watching him curiously, admiringly, and some fearfully.

A middle aged, balding man at the front smiled suddenly, reassuringly, when he noticed Danny's fearful expression.

He brought his hands up, looking around at the other spectators, and clapped his hands together.

Danny stood stock still, confused to the very core of his being.

A few people started catching on, raising their hands and beginning to applaud Danny as well. Some people scowled disdainfully and walked off, giving Danny a shadowed glare before disappearing back towards the streets of Amity. But the rest of the crowd broke out into wild cheering and applause.

He stared around in amazement, never before had he caught a ghost to wild cheers and applause.

Danny grinned sheepishly, waving his hand timidly at the wildly cheering crowd before taking off into the clear blue sky. Feeling good about himself, Danny continued the rest of his patrol with a smile, wild cheers and applause echoing through his thoughts.

Far off, a shadow watched as the crowd accepted Danny with cheers. The shadow shifted, displeased.

"Hmm, this is not working out like I had planned." The shadow's narrowed eyes shifted to the alley where the gold-eyed ghost had been waiting patiently just moments before.

"Maybe it's time for something a little closer to home…"

* * *

Wow, those cliffhangers are addicting! And now you might actually get to see some plot development! Heh, I sorta just realized that I didn't really have much up until now, antagonist wise. …well, scratch that, well actually… wait… AHHH! Damn homework! Killing off my brain cells.

Anyway...

(ObiQ) Thanks! And more thanks! Aww, I couldn't make Danny live in the ghost zone, he'd be bullied more then his already is at school. Sadness. (Conan) Why thank you! (SleepW) Heh heh, they actually didn't puke, but I almost did just watching them. Hey, did you know that they have shocking pencils? Yeah, my friend introduced me to one once. ...curses. Oh, and thanks! (MasterP) Oooh, I must go internet searching. Sadly, I don't think it will be near the "cold, bleak, Colorado rockies." Thanks! And I will try and update more often through finals week. (MissM) Thanks! And I'll try. (PurpleD) Thank you! It took me awhile to figure out the hoax thing, so I'm really glad you liked it! (Crazy) Gah, doesn't school just make you want to... to, gah, do something evil! Oh, and thanks! (EnigP) Sweetness! It's a freaking essay! First of all, I feel loved. Second of all, CURSE YOU! You get to _sleep in_ while I have to get up at six? (shakes fist) Third of all, hey yeah, Danny's belt is white... maybe he can be a black... suit? Oh, and I dub the invention the Fenton Doorbell Ditcher Disaster... or just the Fenton Shocker. Finally, thanks for the long review! (Angel) Right-o!

I will try and update faster, darn finals, but I don't think I can do it every other day.

Reviews make being an insomniac worth it! ...have you ever noticed what time I update?


	11. Chapter 11

Didja notice anything different about last chapter? Didja! Well, if you didn't, I'll tell you what's different… There were no words crammed together, no deleted exclaimation marks, question marks, or dot dot dots! YES! (Dances around room) Take _that _you stupid computer! HAHAHAHA!

Whew… anyway…

One note for this chapter; I don't know how the school that Danny goes to works, so I'm going to say that it works like mine. That is to say that the school runs on the block system, having four classes a day and trading off classes every other day. So he had one of Lancers many classes first on Friday, today he doesn't.

Do I even have to say this anymore? Not mine!

DP episode tomorr-wait, later today! But until then, here's chapter 11!

* * *

The next day found Danny flying to school as Danny Phantom, his pink backpack holding an empty thermos along with his homework that he had actually had time to finish.

_I can't wait to see Lancer's face when I turn in my homework on time! And I actually understood it. _Danny made a mental note to tell Sam about that, since she was the one that usually helped him with his homework.

_Yesterday went almost perfectly. _He thought remembering all of the events. _I caught a ghost to a cheering crowd! My mom helped to train me even more, I helped my dad with his inventions! _Danny sighed contentedly, unconsciously turning invisible as he passed over a camera crew headed towards his school.

Frowning suddenly, he remembered the phone call that had made the day not so perfect. _How in the world did they get my cell phone number anyway? _Danny thought with annoyance. _They hadn't even been calling for me! _A small voice reminded him that the main house phone was still disconnected, but he stubbornly ignored it.

Danny dove towards the school, headed towards his astrology class. He'd have to wait til lunch to talk to his two friends, because for his first two classes, he was all alone.

* * *

_Well, not exactly alone. _Danny thought with annoyance, glaring at the cameras that stood outside all of the windows.

He fumed in his chair as the students around him tried to get the attention of the cameras, either by making a fool of themselves or pestering Danny.

Danny tried to focus his attention on the flustered teacher, but he was having trouble ignoring the hand waving in front of his face.

"Hey Danny! Danny! Remember that one time I helped you out in gym class? Remember?" Star asked, fluttering her lashes. Paulina glared at her friend from the background, contenting her self by complaining to Dash about how much of a loser Star had to be to hang out with Danny. Star continued, ignoring her friend. "Maybe you could repay me by getting me an interview?"

Danny's eye twitched. _Is it so bad that I actually want to **learn **something in this class! _He thought heatedly, trying to ignore the desire to turn her hand invisible. He fought down images of putting frogs in Star's pants, having trouble keeping his eyes their normal blue color in the process.

Star finally removed her hand from in front of Danny's face after he didn't answer, sticking her lower lip out and pouting.

Danny relaxed a little, a few words of the lesson actually making it back to him.

Not for the first time that day, Danny wished Sam was in this class with him. If she were here, she'd make sure everyone was quiet.

Danny couldn't help but grin, imagining his classmates cowering in the back of the room, hiding from Sam's death glare.

With a sigh Danny looked at the clock.

Still three more hours til he got to see Sam.

…and Tucker. Sam and Tucker.

* * *

After what seemed like eternity, the bell FINALLY rang, releasing Danny from his usually fun class turned into a torture chamber. Danny rushed to the door, glancing over his shoulder in exasperation as the rest of his classmates rushed towards the window, waving at the cameras.

Danny stopped outside the classroom, leaning against the wall out of sight from the press. Heaving a great sigh, he relaxed. _One more class until lunch, only one more class…_

His thoughts were interrupted by a conversation. Two people had avoided the chance for attention and were leaving the class, talking the whole way.

"Can you believe those suck ups?" Paulina's scornful voice asked, sounding slightly hurt.

"No body even cares about the football game this weekend!" Dash complained. Paulina huffed.

The two appeared in the door frame, right next to where Danny was now standing invisible. They continued walking down the hallway, absorbed in their problems.

"And the cheerleading squad is doing a new routine at the opening." Paulina's whiny voice continued. She looked over at Dash and whispered. "You should beat up that loser, that would put every one in their place." Danny's eyes turned green. _Bring it on, Dash. _He thought viciously. _Now that the whole school knows about me, there's no holding back._

"Umm…" Dash's usually strong voice sounded unsure. "Maybe Quan could do it."

"What!" Paulina stuck out her lower lip and looked pleadingly at Dash.

"Well, it's just, did you see him the other day beating up on that other ghost?" Paulina's features fell.

"Yeah, I did." They were getting far enough away that Danny had to strain his ears to hear what they were saying.

Paulina quickly regained her enthusiasm. "But we can't just sit by and let that _loser _steal all of our popularity!" The two turned around the corner, Dash's answer the last thing that Danny heard.

"Yeah, but what can we possibly do against a ghost?"

Danny stared at the corner the two had disapeared around, his ego reaching dangerous levels.

Dash, the biggest bully in his high school, was _scared _of him!

Danny turned visible, a giant Cheshire-cat grin spread across his face, and strutted off to his next class.

* * *

The instant the lunch bell rang, Danny raced off through the halls, looking for Sam. He absently pushed aside all of the students that tried to approach him, frustrated that everyone was suddenly so interested in him.

_Maybe it's a good thing I was never popular before this. _He thought with frustration, pushing away a group of unfamiliar people pledging that they had always supported him. This said while looking around excitedly for the press.

Danny finally made it to the lunch room, his eyes scanning around for his two friends.

He found Sam and Tucker already at their table, a tray full of food already sitting at Danny's spot next to Sam. _How in the world do they get here before me? _He wondered for a second, before quickly dismissing the thought. It didn't really matter.

"Sam! You'll never believed what happened!" His two friends looked up as he skidded to a halt in front of them.

"What, the fact that there are camera crews scattered around the school? It's a good thing the principle refused to let them in the school." Sam muttered.

"No! Dash," Danny looked at his two friends, a huge grin on his face, "is afraid of me!" He looked between his two friends excitedly, waiting for their surprised reactions.

Sam just shrugged. "Well, of course he is."

"What?" Danny looked at Tucker, completely confused. Tucker grinned sheepishly at his friend.

"I thought you knew, man. After that fight with the Box Ghost the other day, the whole school was talking about it. A lot of people were talking about how strong you were." _Oh yeah._ He remembered that now, feeling a hint of pride at the comment about his strength. He had been too caught up with avoiding the cameras on Friday to really listen to the gossip that had been running rampant through the halls. _Or pay attention to all of the students that had swarmed me. _

Danny waved his hand, dismissing the issue. He plopped down next to Sam, eyeing his food hungrily.

"So how was your weekend?" Tucker asked conversationally. Danny swallowed the huge bite he had just shoved into his mouth.

"Oh, it was great! My mom started training me and…"

Danny launched into his story, his two friends listening attentively.

"I can't believe it!" Danny shouted, finally getting to the phone call at the end of the day. "Mom and Jazz are leaving this afternoon for Washington."

"Washington? Why are they going there?" Danny glared at his lunch.

"They didn't seem to want to tell me much. But it has something to do with a police conference. They got a call about it last night." Tucker and Sam exchanged nervous looks. Danny stared at his two friends with growing suspicion.

"…do you guys know something?"

"N-no! Nothing at all!" Tucker said, his voice higher then usual. Danny looked to Sam, who was fidgeting with her napkin.

"Sam?" She wouldn't meet his eyes, staring instead at the table. "C'mon Sam, you know you can tell me anything."

"Well…" Sam looked up and immediately regretted it. Danny was looking at her with long perfected puppy dog eyes, his lower lip thrust out and his head tilted slightly. She took a deep breath. "I guess I can tell you."

"The police are arguing about whether you are dangerous or not, and whether your past crimes warrant an arrest. That's why Tucker and I went down to the police office with your parents the day you were exposed. We had to explain the circumstances of your crimes and remind them of how much you've helped the city." Sam looked up at Danny's fearful expression.

"You don't think they'll actually… I mean, they won't …" Danny stuttered. "They won't actually arrest me, will they?" Sam shook her head.

"Not with Jazz and your mom on the case, they wouldn't let that happen. But if they're going to Washington, that must mean that people higher up are starting to take interest in the debate." Danny stared at his two friends in astonishment.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"Well," Sam looked at him with poorly hidden concern. "We thought you had enough to deal with as it were." Danny nodded absently.

He stood up suddenly, heading towards the exit.

"Danny! Where are you going?" Danny turned around, his expression softening when he saw Sam's concerned look.

"I have to talk to my mom and Jazz before they leave." Sam sighed, then nodded.

"Try and make it back for last hour?" Danny smiled at her.

"I will."

The two friends watched Danny leave, then sat in silence for a while.

Tucker looked over at Sam, a grin on his face.

"I _guess_ I can tell you." Tucker said, mimicking Sam's voice and holding his hands over his heart. "_Anything_ for Danny." He faked a heartfelt sigh

"Shutup, Tucker." Tucker rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh.

"Man, when are you going to get over yourself and ask him out? You know he's too shy to ask you out, otherwise you'd already be dating." Sam glowered at the table, remembering that Danny had asked _Paulina _out.

"Shut _up_, Tucker." Tucker held up his hands in defeat.

"Ok, fine. I'll stop. But you know –"

"_Tucker!_" Sam glared at her grinning friend. "Don't you know what this means?" She yelled in frustration, conveniently changing the subject. "People outside of Amity Park are starting to realize that Danny Phantom _does _exist." Tucker's grin faded from his face.

"And it's not just anyone that's taking interest," Sam continued pointedly, "It's the _government!_"

The two sat in silence for the rest of lunch, only saying their goodbyes when the bell rang and the two headed off to their separate classes.

* * *

Sam walked down the empty hallway, a purple hall pass in her grip. _This is pathetic. _She thought, glowering at the pass in her hand. _I am in high school, **high school! **And I'm still not allowed to go to the bathroom with out a hall pass. _

Still muttering to herself about the indignities of high school, Sam came upon the wreckage that was the biology room until it was introduced to the Box Ghost's boom boxes. The area looked better then it did on Friday, except that now the gaping hole in the wall looked out of place without all the debris lying around it.

Sam stopped to stare the hole that Danny's body had created, once again admiring his strength. _I wonder if he has any muscle under that shirt of his…_ Sam took a second to imagine what that might look like.

"Sam?"

Her heart jumped up into her throat, which turned out to be a good thing since it prevented her from screaming.

She turned around slowly, trying to gather her shattered dignity before anyone saw her, especially…

"Danny? What are you doing back so early? …and why are you grinning?" She glared suspiciously at her green eyed friend. Two rings appeared around Danny and turned him back into Danny Fenton before he replied.

"You jumped so high!" Was all he said, that infuriating grin still plastered on his face. Sam felt her face heat up. Trying to look dignified, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"You must have just imagined it. And you didn't answer my first question." She said, quickly changing the subject. Danny gave her one last grin before he launched into his short explanation.

"By the time I got home, Jazz and my mom were already gone." He shrugged, struggling to hide his emotions. His expression suddenly changed and he looked at the ground, thinking.

"Danny," He looked up at her, his eyes worried, "Your mom and Jazz won't let anything bad happen to you. Neither would me or Tucker. We've got your back, remember?" Danny's warm smile melted her heart.

"Thanks Sam. I won't forget that, I promise." Sam smiled back at him.

An uncomfortable silence followed, the two of them looking anywhere except the other's eyes for a while until Sam broke the silence.

"Uh, we should probably get to class." A hint of sarcasm crept into her voice as she continued. "I wouldn't be surprised if the teacher timed how long we're out using the bathroom." She said with a one sided grin, holding up the hall pass. Danny laughed, imagining Mr. Lancer with a stopwatch held out in front of his face, his foot tapping while he waited by the door.

"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past Mr. Lancer." The two laughed and started off through the empty halls, the conversation somehow turning towards how funny it would be if Mr. Lancer and Ms. Tetslaff ended up dating.

Just before the two reached their class, they ran into Valerie, much to Sam's displeasure.

She looked up from the book she held in her hand (The Autobiography of Vlad Masters), smiling when she saw Danny.

"Hey Danny, how's the sudden popularity going?" She asked, ignoring Sam's glare. Danny sighed.

"It's annoying. Everyone keeps asking me for interviews or asking me if I could get _them_ an interview." Valerie grimaced.

"Sounds fun." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "If you ever need any help, you can always come to me." She gave Danny a flattering smile. Sam's eyes practically burned a hole in Valerie's forehead.

"Ok, thanks!"

"Well, I better get to class, see ya around sometime!" Danny waved as she walked off. Sam glowered at her until she was out of sight. Turning to Danny suddenly (who was still blissfully unaware of the silent fight going on between his two friends) Sam

"Hey, do you want to hang out at my house later tonight? Y'know, after your done with your training and everything?" The two started walking again.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Sam smiled, opening the door to their classroom.

"Good, now all we have to do is make it through two of Mr. Lancer's classes." Danny groaned, walking into the classroom after Sam.

* * *

"There are many great lessons to be learned in history, for it is filled with heroes and villains of every kind, heart warming miracles and the hardest of struggles. History has it all, including some of the darkest times known to man." Mr. Lancer pointed to the board, where his notes from this class period remained.

"The holocaust is one of those times. It is times like that when true heroes emerge, standing up for their beliefs even if it costs them their life. So, with that, I'd like to leave you all with one question;" He looked around at the students, the majority of whom were ignoring him. With a sigh that seemed to say 'why do I even bother,' he continued on anyway, his passion getting the better of him.

"If there is nothing in life you would be willing to die for, what do you have that is worth living for?"

Danny rolled his eyes, his thoughts on the clock that was slowly ticking closer to his freedom. A part of him was still focused on the question.

_Would I die for anything? _A little voice in the back of his mind asked. He frowned, thinking about it. _Not that I really care, or anything. _He told himself nervously, his now unfocused eyes staring blankly at the clock. His mind raced through his life, stopping at all of the times he had faced death.

_Yeah, I would. _He realized, an image floating to the top of his mind.

It was a picture of him surrounded by his family and his two best friends.

* * *

Oh man, I sorta use songs for each of the main characters to help me write them, and I finally found a main song for Sam! Ever heard of "Just A Girl" by No Doubt?

Well, finals are over and I don't have practice again until mid febuary. And with this new semester my fine-tuned schedule now consists of four art classes and two english classes, plus both morning periods off. (Ah, 'tis great to be a senior.) So, with my new found free time, I thought I might start another story or two, along with continuing this one, of course. I have about a billion new story ideas, but, sadly, I don't have _that _much free time. So, I narrowed down my ideas to around five or six stories, and I was wondering if maybe you guys wanted to vote on them or something?

If you do, GREAT! That makes my life easier. If you don't really care, well, then just don't vote, I guess. The summaries to the stories are posted in my profile, so hopefully you'll check them out!

Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter, and here are my oh-so-exciting comments:D

(MissM) Thanks! And did this chapter help answer that question any? (ObiQ) _Grins evily _(MasterP) Heh heh, the name's just cause I'm lazy. That's awesome that you like it though! Oh, and don't worry, I've got plans for that character. Yes, plans… (rubs hands together) (Crazy) Me too! But can you imagine him trying to sing it? _Shudders _Jack Fenton...singing. (PurpleD) Thanks! 12:30, haha, math homework at midnight. I don't think I could ever pull that off. And I'm glad you liked the songs so much! (EnigP) Mmm, do you have a DazBog where you live? I practically live at that place. Oh, and that dropout thing with later school times? It has been proven, I had to do a paper about it last year. (SleepW) OMG! Flutes rock! And so does Tad Williams! Did you like War of the Flowers? That was my fav. XD Oh yeah, the ghost was afraid of the fire in Danny's hand, btw. And thanks!

Reviews make me smile! XD


	12. Chapter 12

Hehey, how's it going? Ok, I'd like to say that I've been busy, but I was really just in **_moral outrage_** at how they ended the Teen Titans. Stupid…freaking…_last_ _episode_…leaving us HANGING! Guh, I could rant about that all day, but I will spare you my frustration… (Snaps keyboard in half)

SO, anyway…

Dis: Not and never will be mine.

Ah, the plans that are being set in motion… Chapter 12!

* * *

"Hey, Sam. I just finished my homework, do you still want to hand out at your house tonight?" Danny asked his cell phone. He stood in his room, his window framing the sun as it slowly crept below the horizon. A jumbled reply came through, Danny grinned. 

"Yeah, Sam. I actually did my homework." Another reply echoed through his phone.

"Huh? Oh, no. My dad is still here. Jazz went because she knows the most about me and my enemies. And, well, my mom is better at arguing then my dad is." Danny waited, listening. Then he sighed, his gaze going to the floor of his room, imagining his dad down in the kitchen.

"He's already pinning for her. I don't know how he's going to last a week without her." Shaking his head, Danny quickly changed the subject. "So, is Tucker already there?" He absently picked up a picture of his family, staring at his two parents while he listened to Sam.

"Ok, I'll be over in a bit." Danny closed his cell phone, putting down the picture with a sigh.

* * *

Danny looked in the kitchen. His dad was sitting at the table, his shoulders slumped, half-heartedly working on an invention he and Maddie had started before she had left. 

Danny cleared his throat loudly, his dad looked up.

"Um, I'm going over to Sam's house." He said, mentally trying to justify leaving his dad all alone.

"Oh, ok... I'll just stay here and work on this invention." He held up the half-finished invention, staring longingly at the spot where Maddie would usually sit. "All by myself…" His dad sighed.

Danny turned around, trying to ignore his conscience yelling at him and the guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Um, ok." Danny hesitated, feeling bad, but finally left. With a final glance back at the kitchen, he walked out the front door, headed for Sam's house.

* * *

A figure floated in front of the Fenton house, waiting patiently. Down below, a door slammed as a black haired boy marched into the cold weather. His breath trailing behind him, the boy headed off down the block, the yellow streetlights illuminating his path. 

The figure watched him until he was out of sight, then turned its eyes towards the Fenton house.

With a shadowed grin, it flew into the house.

* * *

Walking to Sam's house in the chill air, Danny couldn't help but think about his father. 

_Maybe I should have stayed with him. I could've helped him with the invention. _Danny stared at the concrete, seeing only his father's sad face. Shaking his head, Danny held his arms close, shivering in the chill air. _No, I promised Sam I'd go over to her house. _He told himself.

He still couldn't help but think that he had chosen that option because it was more fun for him.

Danny looked around suddenly, realizing he was nowhere near Sam's house. Shabby, run down houses surrounded him, the streets were broken, the sidewalks cracked and littered with trash. The yellow streetlights overhead flickered, some permanently dark.

He had absently wandered into the poorer part of Amity.

With a tired sigh, Danny concentrated and turned into Danny Phantom. He jumped into the air, just wanting to get to Sam's house so that he could get out of the cold weather and stop thinking about his father.

With a yelp, Danny fell face first onto the cold concrete. Holding his throbbing head with a moan, he managed to push himself off of the freezing ground.

_That was weird. _

He stood up, looking around in embarrassment to make sure no one else had seen that. Satisfied that he was the only one outside, Danny tried flying again.

He jumped up, flapping his arms to try and help.

Again, he fell. Only this time, he managed to land on his feet.

_What is wrong with me? _He stared at his hands, imagining green fire lighting up. Nothing happened. He tried turning intangible, he stayed solid.

Nothing seemed to work.

Danny glared at his gloved fist. _Great. Why not make this night even better. _He thought, thoroughly frustrated.

With a flash, his hand turned back to normal. Danny Fenton looked around the dark streets surrounding him. _Well, at least I can still do that. _He thought, not exactly overjoyed at his one remaining ability.

With a sigh, he started off towards Sam's house, his hands in his pockets to try and keep warm.

* * *

Sam opened her door to find a shivering Danny. 

"Danny!" She reached out and yanked him inside. "Are you trying to freeze yourself to death?" She asked, her voice worried and scornful at the same time.

Danny grinned at her, which really didn't help her mood much since his teeth started to chatter together.

Sam shook her head and turned around, disappearing down the hallway. Danny rubbed his hands together, trying to get feeling back in his fingers. _When did it get so cold outside, anyway? _

Sam came back, a black trench coat in her hands. Danny looked at it skeptically.

"Why do you have a trench coat?" He asked.

"I gave it to my dad for his birthday." She said, her voice dry. Danny laughed at that.

"Has he ever worn it?"

"Nope."

Danny grinned at her, taking the coat and putting it on. Sam studied his new look, one that Danny had no intention of keeping.

"Hey, Sam…" She looked up at him, "Would you mind hanging out at my house tonight?" He asked, feeling awkward in the black coat. She shrugged.

"Sure, why?"

"Because, well, my dad is sorta lonely. When my mom's not around he gets really depressed." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Sam's eyes. She smiled at him.

"Aww, you're not half bad, Danny." Danny turned around, hiding his blush. Opening the door, he looked back at Sam.

"Ready?"

"Oh, I have to wait til Tucker gets here to tell him what's going on. He just called me, telling me he was on his way."

"Oh, ok." Danny said, trying to suppress a sudden feeling of jealousy. _It's just Tucker! _He told himself sternly. Sam interrupted his thoughts.

"He should get here soon, I'll meet you at your house?" Danny nodded.

With a small wave, he turned around and walked back into the chill air, the clouds parting to reveal the moon. With white moonlight lighting his steps instead of just the pale yellow of the streetlights, Danny started back towards his house.

* * *

Danny opened the door to his house, taking off the jacket and hanging it up, he headed towards the kitchen. 

"Dad?" He peaked around the wall, finding an empty table. _Hmm, that's weird. _Danny searched through the quiet kitchen, his eyes going next to the fridge.

_Two of his favorite spots, empty. _He glanced at the counter, spotting his dad's keys lying where he had last left them. _And he left the lights on, so he must still be in the house..._

With a shrug, Danny headed for the lab. _Only one spot left._

He opened the door to the lab, the light shinning down the dark stairs. Danny looked down into the darkness uneasily, quietly stepping down onto the first stair.

Gulping, he looked down into the dark lab, noticing a dim light shinning up from somewhere below.

Danny took another step, his nervous eyes wide.

_What, are you afraid of the dark? _He asked himself harshly. Squaring his shoulders, Danny fought down the uneasy feeling that something was not right and continued down the steps.

Reaching the bottom, his eyes scanned the lab, absently spotting the thermos that had once held the girl from the alley. He had released her back into the Ghost Zone the minute he had returned home Sunday night, not wanting his dad to try and experiment on her.

Danny finally spotted a single lamp shinning desolately down on the back of Jack Fenton. The nervous feeling only increasing, Danny stayed by the stairs. Taking a deep breath, he broke the oppressive silence.

"Hey dad, Sam will be over here in just a sec. We decided to hang out here tonight." He said, trying to keep his voice calm.

His dad looked up, a new invention held in his hand. This one looked different then most of his other inventions. It was colored a darker color instead of the usual bright green. It had a two-pronged fork that was made out of a dark black metal. The fork seemingly grew out of the black base, golden highlights circling around and fading into the black fork.

It reminded Danny of something… something, sinister.

"Hey Danny, come over here." He waved his hand holding the invention excitedly. Eyeing the invention warily, Danny shuffled over to his dad.

"Hold out your hand." His dad instructed, his voice sounding different.

Danny slowly held out his hand, wondering what his dad wanted as the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. His instincts kept telling him to run, but Danny forced himself to stay still, thinking that this would make up for him ditching his dad earlier.

"Good, I just need to test this-" Jack said as he took Danny's hand. _Wait, test it... on ME!_

"WHAT!" Danny tried to yank his hand away, but his dad had already taken a hold of his arm.

With a satisfied smile on his face, Jack pressed the fork-pronged invention into Danny's hand, sending black lightning forking up his son's arm.

Danny jerked his hand back as black energy raced across his arm, his fingers going numb.

His dad stood to his full height, his usually jolly face twisted into a cynical smirk.

Danny backed up nervously, his eyes darting around.

"D-dad?"

He felt the black energy work its way through his body as he continued to back up, a cold numbness following in its wake.

Jack's shadowed eyes narrowed, his grin widening.

"Jack's not in at the moment, can I take a message?" His dad's voice answered, sounding completely foreign to Danny. He stepped forward, leaving the small circle of light.

Danny stopped, his eyes narrowed in hatred.

_Nobody overshadows my dad. _He thought angrily, his fist clenching. He concentrated for a moment, calling upon his ghost side.

His eyes widened and he gasped, looking up fearfully at… whoever was possessing his father.

"Why can't I go ghost?" He asked, his heart hammering in his ears.

"So it did work, good. Last time it only shorted out your powers when you were feeling unsure of yourself."

_Last time…? _Danny looked at his father in astonishment.

"Skulker?" He asked. His father didn't answer, but instead started advancing on him. Danny gulped, hesitating.

_What do I do! I can't just leave my dad here! ...but I can't fight Skulker without knocking him out of my dad first. _Danny looked around the lab, slowly backing towards the stairs. He spotted the Fenton Catcher…

Right behind Skulker.

_Great. _

He tried dodging to the side, but his dad cut him off, pushing him towards the stairs.

Noticing his son's longing stare as he continued to step backwards, his dad looked behind him, trying to see what Danny was looking at. Spotting the catcher in the background, he quickly turned around and shoved Danny backwards.

Danny stumbled, barely staying on his feet. His dad stepped forward, completely dwarfing him and cutting off any chance of reaching the catcher.

Danny's eyes widened, seeing his dad's giant fist swing back, a promising look in his fathers eye. Memories of his exposure at the school coming back forcibly, Danny quickly turned around to the stairs.

And ran.

He jumped up the stairs two at a time, his frightened mind hearing his dads booming footsteps right behind him over the sound of Danny's panicked breathing.

All he could think of was to escape. He'd rescue his dad later, after he had time to think of a plan.

The still rigged doorbell echoed down the stairwell, but Danny barely heard it, or the shriek that followed. He was too busy running up the stairs, his heart racing in his ears.

Jumping up the last stair, Danny didn't even look behind him, but headed straight for the door.

He grabbed the handle to the front door, throwing it open.

The light from his house fell on a very mad Sam, standing angrily at his doorstep. He absentmindedly noticed her burning glare, slightly smoking hair, and clenched fists.

"Why does your doorbell _shock _people?" She asked with a low voice. Danny ignored her.

"Sam!" He yelled, glancing behind him nervously. Sam's murderous expression quickly changed to one of concern when she noticed his fearful gaze.

"Danny, what happened?" Danny grabbed Sam's hand and jumped down to the moonlit sidewalk, dragging her along behind him.

"Run!" He yelled, taking off towards the edge of town. Sam took one look in the Fenton house, noticing a furious Jack Fenton racing towards the door, and instantly turned around and ran after Danny.

"Danny, what-"

"Skulker overshadowed my dad and used an invention to short out my powers!" Sam took a second to let this all sink in. (Plus she had to give herself time to catch her breath, running was not her most favorite activity in the world.)

"Wow… that's low even for Skulker." Danny glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened, taking in the faint glow of an orange jumpsuit following along behind.

"Sam! He's following us!" Sam glanced back, her eyes widening at the sight of Jack Fenton trying to sprint.

"That's not something I needed to see." She muttered, looking back at the moonlit ground in front of her and widening her stride. The two easily out ran the giant man chasing quite a ways behind them.

"I don't get it." She panted, "Why doesn't Skulker just leave Jack's body and _fly _after us?"

"I don't know." Danny gasped, his face getting paler by the second.

He grabbed Sam's hand and steered her towards the dark forest at the edge of town. The trees sheltered out all light, the trampled path that the two were following fading away beneath the black silhouettes of the trees.

"But I do know… that we can hide… in here." Danny took one last glance behind him before diving into the forest, Sam by his side.

_It's a good thing my dad likes to eat so much fudge. _He thought as he and Sam ran blindly through the forest, trying to find a good place to hide.

The two raced through the maze of trees, only slowing down when they came across a small clearing.

Danny clutched his side, the patches of moonlight filtering through the leaves beginning to swim in his vision. He stumbled to a halt, breathing heavily.

_What is wrong with me? _He thought worriedly, his legs feeling like lead.

"Danny?" Sam stopped, realizing her friend was behind her.

Danny heard Sam crunch through the leaves, rushing back to him. She reached out and tugged on his arm. He barely felt her, his thoughts back in his parents lab.

_Maybe Skulker's weapon…?_

"C'mon! We have to hurry!" Sam yelled at him, pulling desperately on his arm. Danny's eyelids slid down, his mind going blank.

"Sam… I can't…" A familiar tingling numbness spread throughout his body. Danny closed his eyes, his whole body relaxing.

"…Danny?"

He collapsed, asleep before he even hit the ground.

* * *

I hope the scene with his father wasn't too dark. I tried to keep it light without ruining the mood. Er, yeah... 

So… replies!

(MasterP) Guh, Dash and Paulina, bleh. They are my least favorite characters, by far. But they do make for good sub-plots! (ObiQ) _grins…um, innocently?_ Thanks! I think that part has been the hardest part of this story, figuring out how the world would react. I mean, I really don't even know how the US's central intelligence works, except for what I see in movies (And those are oh so accurate) Feh, mysterious CIA. (Crazy) Heh, thanks! (SleepW) Bwa ha ha! I love my easy senior classes! But I still do get homework from my College Comp class. ...reading homework! Haha! Oh, and thanks! (MissM) Evil villainous plots are the best kind! Tis convienient that his sister and his mother were gone... And what did you suspect with Sam? (EnigP) Yay foreshadowing! _Claps _You are the only one who caught that. You get some Dippin Dots. And a LiveJournal account. Hee hee! Just kidding! I rant to my friends all the time, only I have to do it on LJ because, around them, all of the conversations somehow turn into random fun-ness… yes, you know that made sense. Someone needs to invent 'life in a can.' Yes, you open it and, suddenly, all of your friends don't have to work or scavenge for gas money anymore! Woo! That would be cool. Rambling is fun.(PurpleD) I was amazed that my computer didn't spontaneously combust! Heh, yeah. Oh, and I will do MiBaB after this one for sure! (CaptianD) Hey, did you get my idea? Well, tell me what ya think. (PhantomL) Thanks! Aww, but that would be too easy, wishing it all away. Darn logic.(DFlame) Thanks! Ohh, I really like the shortened summary. You really are good at that! (JodiC) Really? But you get to start school later then mid August, right? Glad you liked my story!

I'm starting to work on the story 'A Plan Gone Awry,' and I will try and post it ASAP. So it's either the next chapter in Savior or the first chapter to my second story that'll be up sometime around Monday, hopefully. Hmm, well, I'll figure that out later.

For now, you should all review! It will help me post faster, I promise.

Oh! I almost forgot. While I was fixing this chapter up, I started rereading the part where Sam and Danny start running through the night and I thought of a cool picture. Yeah, so I might actually do some art for this story, I don't know. It depends on if I can get the perspective I really want, because if I screw it up I'll get frusterated and trash the pic.

Bleh, rambling.

Review!


	13. Chapter 13

Ok! I'm going to do a shout out to all of the people who reviewed, you'll see why at the bottom.

Thank you for all of the reviews! Leilanisangel, enigmatic penguin, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, the sleep warrior, Master of Procrastination, purpledog100, captain deoxys, ilikedan, Gmasangel, Jodi Crystal, Missmeliss4251, crazyvi, EctoPlasmicGoo, and zizzy333.

THANK YOU!

Dis, not mine!

Ok, it'sshort, but hopefully good! Chapter 13!

* * *

The moon shone desolately in the empty sky, lighting up the dark heavens like a candle. Its silver rays illuminated a mass of clouds slowly creeping towards it, a quiet promise of coming darkness.

Down in the dark forest, standing helplessly in a circle of moonlight, was Sam.

Her mind was a chaotic mess, her panicking thoughts running into each other.

Despite her inner turmoil, Sam remained relatively calm on the outside.

Except for the fact that she couldn't get her hands to stop shaking.

She looked down at Danny, watching the silver moonlight dancing in his hair. He snored blissfully, his head pillowed in the leaves.

She knelt over Danny's sleeping form, wondering what in the world she should do. He seemed

perfectly all right, except for the fact that he was sleeping in the middle of a cold, dark forest while his overshadowed father was hunting him down.

She reached out, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

"Danny?" Sam shook him again. His only response was a louder snore.

Sam looked around at the dark forest nervously. The trees seemed to reach for her with every passing breeze.

Her wide eyes searched through the blackness that surrounded her. Even the most innocent of shadows suddenly seemed to have eyes staring back at her.

Remembering Jack chasing after them, she quickly grabbed Danny, holding him under his arms, and dragged him out of the moonlight and into the shadows of the trees.

She stopped, safely hidden in the darkness, and caught her breath.

_After chasing Danny around while he fought all types of ghosts, you'd think I'd be used to this sort of stuff. _She thought, a small smile crossing her face.

The soft sound of someone crunching through the leaves shattered her thoughts. The sound seemed far off, but it was getting closer to where Sam hovered over Danny protectively.

Sam stood up quietly, positioning herself between Danny and the noise.

The sound of a twig snapping, sounding even closer then before, managed to make it over the sound of Sam's hammering heart.

A slim shadow appeared on the opposite side of the moonlit clearing. Sam relaxed slightly, eyeing the shadow. There was no way that that stick figure was the beefy Jack Fenton.

The shadow paused, looking around. Finally moving forward, the moonlight fell on it's face, revealing…

"…Tucker?"

Tucker jumped, looking around with wide eyes at the moonlit clearing he stood in.

"S-Sam?" He asked timidly, turning around, his eyes still searching for her. Sam moved out of the shadows, letting the silver light fall on her face.

"What...?" She looked over her friend, confused. He spun around, jumping when he saw Sam. Realizing who it was, he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Ohh, you scared me Sam!" He laughed nervously, inching closer to his friend with a nervous glance at the dark forest that surrounded them. Sam continued to regard her friend cautiously

"What are you doing here? And how come you never showed up at my house? I was worried!" Tucker shook his head, looking away from the trees towering over the two after realizing Sam had been talking to him.

"Huh?" Tucker looked at her blankly. Sam sighed. Tucker took one more fearful glance at the shadows before looking back at her. "Where's Danny?" He asked, looking around. Sam swallowed her questions, remembering Danny's situation guiltily.

Without a word, she rushed back into the shadows, feeling around until she felt Danny's slumbering form. With a grunt, she pulled him out into the light.

Tucker gasped, instantly thinking the worst.

"What happened?" He asked, rushing to Danny's side. He put shaking fingers against Danny's neck, breathing a sigh of relief after feeling a steady beat.

Sam shook her head sadly.

"I don't really know. When I got to his house he ran out, yelling Skulker had overshadowed his dad and shorted out his powers. Then we ran, and he passed out once we made it into the forest."

Tucker looked at Sam with wide eyes.

"Skulker?" He asked dubiously. She nodded.

"I know, I never thought he would go so low."

"Yeah, that just seems too…" He searched for the right word, "…dark for Skulker." Sam nodded, her thoughts far away. She had the nagging feeling that she was missing something.

Something important.

"Are his powers shorted out permanently?" Tucker cut through her thoughts. Sam jerked back out of her reverie, glancing at Tucker with a shrug.

"Don't know." She said, looking around the forest nervously. She focused once again on Danny snoozing peacefully, continuing. "But I'm guessing that what ever Skulker did to him, it also drained some of his energy… or something."

"So that's why he's sleeping?" Tucker asked. Sam sighed miserably.

"I don't know."

The two sat in silence for a while, each pondering the situation that they had seemingly been thrown into.

Sam sat in silent frustration.

She felt so helpless! She could think of nothing to do, besides sit here and wait for Danny to wake up, all the while desperately hoping that no one stumbled upon their hiding place.

She wanted to _do _something, anything! ...even if it meant asking someone else for help.

But there was no one else that could help. No single person that might possibly know what was going on.

She couldn't ask for Danny's parents to help, they were either gone or possessed. Danny, who probably knew the most about what was going on, seemed to be permanently asleep. The only other person who might be able to help was…

_No, there's no way I'll ask **her** for help. _She scowled, but her gaze softened when she looked at her sleeping friend.

…_but Danny… _

Sam glared at the ground, thinking about having to grovel at _her _feet, asking _her _for help because Sam couldn't handle it herself.

She clenched her fists, waging an internal war of her dignity verses her concern for her friend.

After a few seconds of glaring absently at the ground, her concern finally won out, and with a sigh that seemed to come from the very tips of her toes, Sam stood up.

Tucker looked at her questioningly.

Sam heaved a sigh, committing herself to her deed by telling Tucker her plan.

"I'm going to go get help, you stay here and guard Danny." She paused, looking sadly at his sleeping form. "I don't want to carry him through the town, we might run into…" Sam stopped, letting the sentence hang. She quickly turned around and started searching the darkness for the way back to Amity.

"Who are you going to ask for help?" Tucker asked curiously. Sam stopped short, her answering voice laced with venom.

"Valerie." She spat, then started walking. Her head held high, Sam slowly disappeared into the darkness.

"…good luck." Tucker told the surrounding darkness, trying to hide a grin at Sam's reluctance. With a sigh of his own, Tucker went back to staring absently at his friends slowly rising and falling chest.

* * *

Danny moaned, slowly opening his eyes. He lay on his back on what felt like leaves and twigs, surrounded on all sides by a dark forest. He groaned, struggling to sit up and rubbing his head in the process.

"What happened?" He mumbled, trying to piece together the jumbled flashes of earlier that night. Tucker glanced over at his friend and jumped up, rushing to Danny's side to help him up.

"Good, you're awake. We need to talk." Danny blinked up at his friend, then glanced around at the dark trees towering over the two.

"Where's Sam?" Tucker took a deep breath, preparing for the plunge.

"I'll get to that later." Tucker sighed. "This is gonna be difficult to say…" He muttered to himself. Danny noticed his friend's pained expression and immediately gave his full attention. Suddenly, Tucker spoke up, words tumbling out of his mouth one after the other.

"Danny, we have our own problems, y'know, without you adding yours." Tucker paused, trying to find the right words. Danny stared at his friend in astonishment as Tucker rushed on.

"Danny, Sam already left. Sh-she couldn't take it anymore-" Danny's heart froze.

"S-Sam… left?" Tucker looked at his friend apologetically. Danny stared at his best friend in dawning horror, every word slowly sinking in.

"I'm really sorry! I am! I…we just couldn't handle this anymore." Tucker's voice rose, "I want to have a normal life, Danny!" Danny stared at Tucker. Tucker looked at the ground, the hysterical note leaving his voice as he continued.

"And, well, I can't do that if I'm helping you. …I'm sorry."

"…Tucker." Tucker stood up and turned around quickly, hiding his tears. He hesitated for a second, his eyes focusing on something in the distance. Then, making up his mind, Tucker spoke quietly.

"Good bye, Danny."

* * *

Sam blinked her eyes, moaning as her head began to throb. _What happened…?_

"I see you have finally woken." Sam sat up, and instantly regretted it as her vision swam and her stomach protested violently. Managing to keep down what food she had eaten, Sam looked up at the speaker.

Four golden spots circled around each other, finally merging into a pair of glowing golden eyes staring at Sam. She gasped.

"You!" The black haired, golden eyed ghost nodded.

"I was wondering if you would remember me." She said, her voice light.

"What did you do? Where am I?" Sam demanded angrily, still trying to focus her vision.

"Oh, I knocked you over the head when I saw you walking by." The ghost pointed to a rock she was floating over. Sam felt the back of her head, grimacing at the huge bump she felt, (_a ghost had to use a rock to knock me out!)_ then glanced around.

She was sitting at the end of a dark alley, the ghosts pale aura illuminating the surrounding trash and dirt. She looked back at the ghost floating in front of what Sam assumed was the only exit, only noticeable from the surrounding darkness by the faint glow from the yellow streetlights filtering through.

"…what do you want?" She asked warily. The ghost ignored her, and instead began scrutinizing Sam with her intense golden eyes. Feeling more then a little nervous, Sam thought longingly of Danny. With a resigned sigh, she realized that he wouldn't be in any shape to pull off a rescue right now.

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you." Sam looked up, her eyes wide. _Can you… read my thoughts?_

The ghost continued to look at her, not saying anything else. Sam thought she detected the slightest smile on the ghost's lips, and decided to be more careful with her inner monologue.

Suddenly, the ghost's eyes widened, then narrowed as a look of concentration overtook her face.

"Good, you're awake. We need to talk." She said, her eyes looking past Sam. Sam whirled around, expecting to see someone standing behind her.

"I'll get to that later," The ghost sighed, "This is gonna be difficult to say…" Sam looked at the ghost as if she were crazy. Sam couldn't spot anyone in the darkness behind her, but the ghost continued to stare past Sam. She spoke up again, continuing her one sided conversation.

"Danny, we have our own problems, y'know, without you adding yours."

Sam's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening in fear. "…no."

"Danny, Sam already left. Sh-she couldn't take it anymore-" Sam looked at the ghost in dawning horror. _She couldn't be…she's not…! _

"I'm really sorry! I am! I…we just couldn't handle this anymore." The ghosts' voice rose, "I want to have a normal life, Danny! …and, well, I can't do that if I'm helping you. …I'm sorry."

"No!" Sam jumped forward, her hands reaching for the ghosts' mouth.

The ghost lost her concentration, her eyes focusing on Sam as she lunged for her.

And fell right through her.

The ghost regarded Sam for a second, her emotions hidden. Looking up from the ground, Sam could only shake her head, her eyes pleading.

A cynical smile suddenly spread across the ghosts' face, twisting her features.

Then, her eyes sliding back out of focus, she opened her mouth.

"Good bye, Danny."

* * *

Ok, that was pretty evil, giving you two cliffys in a row. (Tries hard not to snicker evilly)

Erm, I'm hoping that I wrote the ending well enough that it didn't confuse any of you. If it did, try reading the chapter over again, or just wait until my next update. It adds quite a lot.

Oh yeah! One weird thing about my writing. I have a (good, bad, I don't know) habit of leaving _little_ details hanging, like the blast Skulker shot danny with in like the 3rd chapter, and then answering them later or way later in the story. So... yeah, I did that with a lot of details/questions raised in this chapter. They will be answered, just not in the next chapter. Next chapter is all about the main plot, not all of the little sub plots (Is that what you'd call them?).

Yay main plot!

Oh and thanks for all of the reviews! I tried to update on Monday, I really did, but I couldn't make it through all of my homework on time. I've been getting more then I expected.

Anyway... on more of a sour note...

While I would love to reply to reviews, I must take this time to say...

There is a WAR brewing in the background here! The fans are outraged, letters and petitions are being written and signed. What is going on?

_**Nickelodeon is going to cancel Danny Phantom at just 53 episodes!**_

Why are they canceling the show? I don't know, maybe to make room for the newer shows like Catscratch and The X's.

If you want more details or you want to help, go to Butch Harman's Official Site (Just search for that on google) and go into the forums. Butch himself is the one who announced it.

Read between the lines of Butch's 'politically correct' little speech. He's devastated that Danny Phantom is being shut down so soon. And, trust me, he's not stupid. He knows that telling the gigantic fan base will create an outrage. And maybe, just maybe, it will create enough of an outrage that Nickelodeon might change it's mind.

Danny Phantom can be saved. Kim Possible, The Family Guy, and lots of other popular shows have been written off, canceled while they were only beginning, but because of the sheer number of fan letters (Letters that are POLITE! They throw out rude letters, probably feeling better about canceling the show to get back at all of the rude fans.) the shows eventually came back to life, production resumed, and ratings have been as high as ever.

A lot of people might think that this is the end, that there is nothing we can do to save Danny Phantom.

That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Don't get discouraged, don't lose hope. Be sincere, be honest, but most of all, be faithful. Nick _will_ change it's mind if they get enough letters, it has happened before.

Fight.

We can win.


	14. Chapter 14

Heh…heh… Sorry about last time, the rant thing at the bottom. I was just, well, you all probably know exactly how I felt…feel. Sorry about that, though.

Blegh.

To the story!

Those darn villainous ghosts and their evil plans...Chapter 14!

* * *

"SAM!" Danny yelled, sinking down to his knees. "…Sam, I need you." He told his hands quietly. _But she doesn't need me._ A little voice whispered spitefully.

He choked, tears running down his face.

They were gone, his two best friends were gone. He curled up on the forest floor, sobbing.

He'd never realized how much he needed them till now. And now, when he needed them most, they had left him.

_No, I pushed them away. _The little voice whispered, hateful. _I couldn't deal with my own problems so I burdened my friends with my troubles._

And now he was alone, he realized, his frightened eyes staring at nothing. He was completely and utterly alone.

* * *

"YOU! YOU WERE BEHIND EVERYTHING!" Sam screamed at the ghost. The ghost stared at Sam, her face blank, her calm golden eyes reflecting Sam's hateful purple ones. Sam's gaze darted to the exit, her thoughts with Danny.

The ghost picked up the rock lying at her feet. Sam actually laughed.

"You think you can stop me with a rock? You really are crazy." Sam took a step forward.

"I am a ghost, humans cannot touch me." She said, somewhat haughtily, "This rock, however, can do quite some damage to your head, if you don't remember." Sam stopped, hating how helpless she felt.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam growled, her mind harboring crazy thoughts of just running through the ghost and praying that she had horrible aim.

The ghost smiled, whether at Sam's inner thoughts or because she was proud of her plan, Sam couldn't tell.

"I have my reasons…" For a second, Sam swore a look of pure hatred flashed across the usually calm golden eyes. Sam did a double take, but only saw blank golden eyes staring back at her. After a few moments of Sam staring hatefully at the ghost, she decided to speak up again.

"Who are you, anyway?" The ghost looked taken aback for a second, apparently not expecting that question.

"Interesting question, but I guess there is no harm in answering…" Sam waited for about two seconds, then lost what patience she had left at this point.

"Well!"

"Sorry, I had forgotten. I believe that I was… no, I am called Einzel."

_...Einzel? That's..._

"Any more questions?" Einzel asked, a slight note of humor in her voice, "Because I'm sure your friend Tucker would be happy to answer them for you." Sam's gaze shot to the entrance of the alley, her mind going blank. A silhouette of Tucker appeared at the entrance, slowly getting bigger as Tucker walked calmly up to Einzel.

"Hello, Sam." Both Tucker and Einzel spoke, their faces grinning at Sam. She clenched her fists, a desire to punch the ghost burning through her veins. Sam watched, grinding her teeth, as Einzel sent Tucker to guard the entrance with a flick of her eyes.

Finally getting herself under control, Sam straightened and glared as Einzel floated in front of her, a grin plastered across her face.

"Nice puppet. What, was Danny too hard to hypnotize?" Sam asked spitefully. The ghost's face actually darkened at this.

"Yes, he was. But it does not matter, I've taken care of him just the same." Einzel said calmly. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"You had to rely on a rock to knock me out, there's no way you could hurt Danny." She said, regaining her confidence.

"Oh really? Then he wasn't hurt after Skulker exposed him and his fellow students rejected him? What about when his own father turned on him, shorting out his powers? Or when Tucker, one of his best friends, left him?" Einzel looked at Sam standing in the corner with her mouth open.

_All of them…? _

"You…?"

Sam's eyes flared, her fists clenching as her whole body shook with rage. She hissed through clenched teeth, hatred seeping through her voice.

"**_That was all you!_**" Einzel ignored Sam as she continued, her voice low, emphasis on each word.

"…or, what about when the person whom he most admired left him, the one person he always thought would be by his side helping him through whatever came his way, the only person that he truly could not live without." Einzel looked calmly at Sam's shocked figure, her quiet voice echoing through the dark alley.

"What will he do without you, Sam?"

She stared at the ghost floating in front of her, fully realizing just how deep her plan went. Sam licked her lips, her voice coming out in a dry rasp, lacking its usual confidence.

"He'll survive." She said softly. Einzel looked at Sam curiously for a second, seemingly pondering something.

Sam glanced around nervously, her gaze coming to rest on Tucker's silhouette. She narrowed her eyes, racking her brain for something, anything.

"…_I think she was afraid of the fire in my hands…" _Danny's voice ran through her head, followed by an image of the school cafeteria and a confused Danny sitting next to her at their lunch table, explaining his weekend to his two friends.

Sam's eyes widened, her gaze shooting to the outline of Tucker's backpack.

_That just might work…_

She glanced at the ghost, who was currently staring off into space, her mind somewhere else. Ignoring her common sense, Sam leapt towards Tucker, closing her eyes when Einzel blocked her way.

She kept running, right through the ghost.

Sam gasped, her whole body suddenly felt like it was drenched in ice water.

_That was Einzel! _She realized, opening her eyes when her body returned to it's normal temperature.

Her eyes trained on Tucker's silhouette at the end of the alley, ignoring the ghost behind her. Which, in retrospect, probably wasn't a good idea.

Einzel wasn't defeated yet.

A dull thump echoed throughout the alley.

Sam stumbled, crying out in pain. Her back started throbbing, she could already feel a huge bruise starting to form where something hard had connected with the middle of her back.

_The rock! _Sam remembered the black rock Einzel had pointed to earlier. Sam pushed away the pain and continued running, her eyes one again focused on Tucker's silhouette.

_She really does have horrible aim. _She couldn't help but think with bitter humor, glad the ghost had missed her true target.

Her head.

_Almost there…! _

She absently noticed Tucker's outline reach down and grab something.

…_almost…!_

Suddenly, a long metal pipe shot out of the shadows, headed towards Sam's skull.

Sam's eyes widened, her mouth letting out a startled squeak.

_DUCK! _Her mind screamed at her.

She did, just in time.

The pipe whistled over her head, it's momentum swinging Tucker around in the process.

Recovering from her shock, Sam reached forward, grabbing for where she thought Tucker's backpack was while he was still off balance. Her hands ran into soft material, stretched tight over several bumps and bulges.

_I knew Tucker wouldn't leave home without his technology! _Sam thought with relief, running her hands over what she suspected was his PDA.

She grabbed the soft material, and with a heave, ripped the backpack right off of Tucker's shoulders, knocking him to the ground in the process.

Sam heard the pipe clang against the concrete as she turned around, coming face to face with a pair of burning golden eyes.

"Ahh!" Sam jerked backwards in surprise. Einzel's narrowed eyes followed, continuing to stare at her with pure loathing.

Trying to calm her shattered nerves, Sam backed up another step, discretely slipping her shaking hand into Tucker's backpack.

Einzel's golden eyes followed her, the soft yellow light of the street lamp beginning to illuminate the rock she was slowly raising over her head.

Sam took another step back, the pale light of the street lamp falling on her face. She watched the rock rise slowly over the ghosts head, Sam's hand desperately searching through the backpack that she held low to the ground.

Einzel paused with both her hands held over her head, the rock glinting in the yellow street light.

_There! _Sam looked down at the backpack,her hand wrapped around Tucker's PDA.

She ripped the PDA out, looking up to see the ghost swinging the rock towards her head, her aim dead on.

Sam's mind went blank, her body freezing up as she watched the rock descend towards her forehead. The backpack fell from numb hands, falling to the ground with a soft thud.

Her instincts finally kicked in, taking control of her frozen body. Her arms swung up in front of her face, the PDA still clutched in her sweaty palm, while she flinched away, closing her eyes with a soft moan.

Sam tensed, waiting for the impact...

The rock slammed down onto her hand, shattering the glass of the PDA. The impact shook her whole arm, a dull throb sinking down through her hand all the way to her shoulder. She felt something hot trace it's way down her arm, dancing along her skin.

Her empty mind was suddenly filled with thoughts running through at a million miles an hour.

_I'm alive? The PDA! Wait, what about Einzel? Ahh, my hand hurts! But I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive!_

She heard Einzel gasp, the pressure from the rock disappearing.

_What...?_

Sam peeked open one eye, the blurred outline of the rock falling by.

Einzel backed up slowly, her wide eyes focused on the sparks that were floating down to the ground, landing softly on Tucker's backpack.

…_it worked? _Sam glanced down at the backpack, watching as a few of the sparks caught hold of the backpack and began to eat away at it.

_It worked! _Sam thought triumphantly, lowering her stinging arm, the fried PDA still clutched in her hand. She glanced at the PDA, then at the growing flame on the backpack. _That wasn't exactly how I had planned it, but it worked! _

She looked up just in time to see Einzel disappear into the shadow of the alley, her face twisted in fear.

Sam grinned defiantly at the dark alley, silently laughing at her own self doubt.

She kicked the burning backpack towards the alley, sending long shadows down the entrance.

_Take that, Einzel! _She thought triumphantly.

She turned around, tossing the shattered PDA over her shoulder.

Her worried mind once again turning towards Danny, she started off towards the edge of town where the dark forest sat, adrenaline running rampant throughout her body. She only had a little while before the fire burned itself out, and she couldn't let herself get captured again, not if she wanted to help Danny.

She absently heard someone moan behind her, someone who sounded a lot like Tucker.

_Wait…Tucker? _

"Tucker?" Sam stopped, spinning around. Her gaze searched the street, finally landing on a figure sitting just outside of the lamplight, rubbing it's head and looking around in confusion.

"Tucker!" _Einzel must have lost her concentration when I lit the fire! _

Sam started back towards her confused friend, noticing the fire flicker out from the corner of her eye.

She stopped, looking back towards the direction of the dark forest, hesitating. _I can't get caught again..._

…_Danny…_

"Sam?" Her friend croaked, his voice raspy. "Where am I? Wha…" Tucker's voice stopped with a gasp. "NOOOO!" Sam turned away from the forest, images of Einzel looming over her friend flashing through her mind.

"Tucker! Close your eyes!" She yelled, frantically searching for him through the pale light. She spotted him bent over with his hands covering his face.

He was sobbing over his shattered PDA.

The ghost was no where in sight.

Sam shook her head with a sigh, relief washing through her body.

"Geeze, Tucker." She muttered, rushing over to her friend. _Only Tucker would cry over the destruction of a PDA. _She thought somewhat guiltily, mentally promising to replace all of her friend's equipment.

Before she could reach him, golden eyes flared open from the dark alley, narrowing when they focused on Tucker. Sam choked, her heart freezing.

A pale hand shot out of the shadows, landing lightly on Tucker's shoulder. Golden eyes looked softly down on her friend.

Sam stuttered, trying to shout out a warning. But her voice seemed frozen.

"Huh?" Tucker said, looking up.

"Tucker, don't!" She screamed, regaining her voice.

But it was too late.

Tucker's eyes flashed gold, his expression going blank.

Sam swore loudly, torn between her two friends.

_Tucker or Danny? Danny needs me… but so does Tucker! … but Danny…_

Tucker stood up slowly, turning around to face Sam.

Sam took one look at her friend, Einzel floating ominously behind him, and then she turned around.

And ran.

_I'm sorry Tucker! I'll come back, I promise!_

Sam looked up from the ground rushing beneath her, her gaze focusing on the forest in the distance. Her eyes hardened in determination.

_Hang on Danny. I'm coming.

* * *

_

Far away, Danny looked up at the clouds, tears streaming down his face. He was exhausted from searching the entire forest for Sam, his voice gone from screaming her name. At first he hadn't believed Tucker, Sam would never leave him, right?

"_We've got your back, Danny." _A faded image of Sam smiling at him replaced the forest. But it disappeared quickly, the black trees once again filling his vision.

No one had answered.

Sam really was gone...

Shivering, he drew his arms close as a cold breeze whistled past.

"…danny…!" A barely distinguishable voice floated by with the breeze. Danny slowly looked up, his wide eyes searching the forest.

"…Sam?"

* * *

Heh heh…heh. Ok, in defense of my continuous cliffhangers, in one of my english classes we are currently reading and discussing "1001 Arabian Nights". If you've read that book, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, well, I recommend it, because it really is a good book, y'know?

Oh yeah! All of the answers to previous chapters _should_ be in this chapter. (Well, except for one. Remember that one shadow floating over the alley a few chapters back? Yeah, you still shouldn't be able to guess who that is.) But you kinda have to guess at the answers, I just gave you all of the evidence. But if you don't like guessing, (the horror!) then just wait a chapter or two. The main characters still have to figure everything out, of course. It's just fun to figure it out before they do. Yay dramatic irony!

cough Yes, well… to the reviews!

(Crazy) DING DING DING! _Takes on game show host's voice _You are our 100th reviewer! You've just won a prize! It's, uh... um... behind...dooooor number three! _Door creaks open _OMG! It's an imaginary 100 dollars! Congratulations! ...heh heh, and thanks for your review. XD (SleepW) Yeah, I signed that too. Those evil people at nick, sitting in their evil leather chairs. They probably have hairless cats that they pet...ALL EVIL LIKE! ...eh, I just watched Invader Zim. SQUEE! Anyway, thanks! (MissM) Heh heh, yeah... I just thought that that was a bit stupid, even for them. Oh, and being evil is fun. : ) (ilikedan) Oh man, Danny 24/7! That would be just plain amazing. Heh heh, wasn't Tucker evil? I had fun with that. XDAnyway, thanks for the review! (ObiQ) That's why I like Weakness so much, I could never pull off Evil Dan. I'd probably have him say something cheesy like "Now for my first evil deed... I will hide Mr. Lancer's chalk, HAHAHAHAAAA!" As people stare at him, trying not to laugh at his un-evilness. Heh heh, yeah... Thanks for the review! (EnigP) Er, opps. I sorta ranted... a lot. Sorry. But, hey, I'm glad you thought it was motivational! Thanks for the review! (JCrystal) Thanks! And, yep, that's it exactly. Danny's greatest fear. Or, at least, what I think it would be. Btw, my friend passed on that chain thingy around dA. But I don't know what else to do...

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I started the pic thingy I mentioned a while back. I haven't finished it yet, but if ya want to see what I have done so far (which really isn't much), I posted it in my scraps. Here: http /www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 28510302/ Just remove the spaces!

(Does the review dance) C'mon, reviews!


	15. Chapter 15

Heyo! I think I'm finally starting to get used to this story writing thing. It's a lot easier to write what I'm thinking now, but I still think I need to work on my descriptions, especially for scenery. I am REALLY sorry for the lateness, I had a lot of big essays due last week, and I had procrastinated til then. Sooooo, despite the horribly late update, I hope you really like this chapter!

So, here's chapter 15!

* * *

"Danny!" Sam yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. Trees flew by her, the moonlight dancing in their branches. The radiant full moon lit the small path in front of her like a candle, sending long shadows of the branches overhead snaking across the ground. A slight breeze pulled Sam along, carrying her voice ahead of her while she stumbled along behind.

"_What will he do without you, Sam?" _Einzel's voice chased her through the trees.

Sam took in another deep breath, Danny's name on her lips.

"_He'll survive." _

She choked; her throat was raw from yelling, the freezing air stinging her lungs with each gasp as she continued to stumble along the dimly lit forest floor.

The wind died down, the forest falling into a short silence.

"…sam…" A far away voice reached through the pale night, the returning breeze tearing it away after Sam heard only the slightest whisper.

"Danny?" Sam slowed to a stop, her eyes searching through the forest. She waited, turning in circles. She tried to slow her breathing and quiet her heart, her ears open to the slightest noise.

"…Saaaam!" Danny's voice made it back to her, this time clear and strong despite the sudden breeze blowing it back.

Sam smiled in relief.

_No one can defeat Danny Phantom,_ she thought triumphantly, _not even a manipulative golden eyed ghost. _

Sam sucked in another breath, her voice once again confident.

"Danny! I'm coming! Keep yelling!" Sam waited until Danny's voice rang out once again, leading the way through the darkness to her lost friend.

* * *

Sam stumbled through a clearing, Danny's voice sounding almost as loud as if he were right next to her.

Movement caught her attention, her eyes centering on the outline of her friend as he raised his hands to his mouth again. She quickly looked over Danny, her eyes noting his weary posture, the outline of his messier then normal hair, and his slow and tired movements. Sam was reminded of the day he came to take the biology final after an all nighter; tired but determined.

But despite his tired and beaten form, after all that Einzel had put him through, he was still standing. She grinned uncontrollably, insanely proud of him. Sam sprang forward, rushing towards Danny just as he called out her name again.

"SAAAA-ooof!" Sam tackled Danny, almost knocking him over. He stood stiff for a second, his hands still raised to his mouth.

"Danny, I knew you'd survive!" She said into his hair, her arms circled tightly around his small frame.

She felt his body relax under her grip.

"Sam?" He asked softly, peering through the darkness.

Realizing what she was doing, she immediately let go, stepping back quickly. For once, she was glad that it was dark; it hid her brilliant blush.

The second she let go, Danny instantly reached forward without thinking, searching through the darkness until he found her hand. She looked down in astonishment, her face growing redder when she felt his hand circle around hers.

"Uh," Danny stammered, "M-my hand was cold." She looked up at his face, sure he was blushing just as much as she was. No matter how embarrassed, he still clung to her hand, reassuring himself that she was there and that she wasn't going to leave.

Sam desperately searched for something to say. Questions surged through her mind, but she could only smile dumbly at the silhouette of their hands locked together.

"Sam?" He asked, his voice sounding small. She looked up at his face, trying to discern his features through the darkness. "Why…? W-where did you go?"

Sam swallowed hard, suddenly feeling horrible.

"Danny," She heard herself say, her voice pleading, wishing he would understand, "I didn't really…Tucker was being controlled- IS being controlled!" Sam remembered her other friend with a pang.

"What?" He asked. She tugged on his hand, dragging him towards the city.

"C'mon! We have to save Tucker!" Sam tried to step forward but Danny stopped her.

"Why do we have to save Tucker." Danny's voice was dark, laced with bitterness. Sam looked back at Danny's stiff outline in astonishment. Then she remembered exactly what Einzel had made Tucker say.

_I guess I would be bitter, too. _Sam thought, hating Einzel even more.

"That wasn't really Tucker that was talking to you." She quickly explained, "It was Einzel, the golden eyed ghost! She hypnotized Tucker and made him say those things." Danny's hand tugged on hers in what she could only assume was surprise.

"What? Her! But I put her in the ghost zone!"

"Yeah, but that's never stopped a ghost before." Sam said bluntly. Danny just sighed.

"Yeah…" Sam looked back towards the city. The image of Einzel looming over her friend weighing on her worried mind, she once again tugged on Danny's hand. He still refused to move.

"So, what about you?" He asked quietly.

"Huh?" Sam looked back at Danny curiously.

"Why did you leave?"

"Oh…" Sam thought back guiltily. She had left Danny alone with Tucker of her own free will. True, she had planned to return as quickly as possible with help, but still… "I…" Sam's voice fell, reluctant to admit her own failure. "I fell for Einzel's trap. I left you with Tucker to go back to the city and get, uh, some help." She purposely left out Valerie's name; she still couldn't forget how the other girl had been _flirting _with Danny.

She could feel him looking at her expectantly, and she continued on with a sigh. "When I was walking by an alley, Einzel captured me." She said simply, leaving out the part with the rock. It was kind of embarrassing that she had almost been bested by a ghost welding a rock.

"Really?" Danny asked hopefully. "I mean, that's horrible that you were captured," He quickly amended, Sam smiled. "But you… you don't think that I've been burdening you with my problems?"

"What? No!" Sam shook her head violently, something she knew Danny could see despite their dark surroundings. "Both me and Tucker would never willingly leave your side, we're your friends!" She looked at Danny sincerely, her voice lowering to match her expression. "We've got your back, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." He said softly, his hand tightening around hers. He stood still for a second, his head lowered. Then, his voice regaining its confidence, he walked forward and tugged on her hand.

"Let's go save Tucker!"

Sam grinned at Danny, glad he was back to normal. She was about to make a witty comeback when he jerked her forward.

Swallowing her words in favor of catching her breath, Sam followed Danny out of the dark forest, their hands still firmly interlocked.

* * *

"Sam, hide!" Danny whispered, jerking Sam backwards. She fell back, landing with a painful "Umph!" on her butt. He then proceeded to drag a protesting Sam into a thin, shadowed alley between two brick buildings.

The two of them had just entered the very outskirts of the city, the skyscrapers shining dully in the background, the small suburbs of Amity stretching out before them. Now, Sam's view consisted of two dark walls towering over her and a lonely house on the other side of the street.

Sam looked behind her accusingly. Danny was leaning over her, his head peeking around the corner of the brick building blocking them from whatever was out there.

"Danny, what is it?" Sam asked quietly, rubbing her sore behind. _Please not Einzel, pleeeease. _Sam thought desperately, looking up at her tired friend. Neither one of them was in the condition for a fight right now.

"My dad." He whispered back.

"Oh," Sam sighed with relief. "Danny," She pulled him back into the alley. He looked at her in confusion. "He should be back to normal now, watch."

She stood up and, dragging a protesting Danny along behind her, stepped out of the alley and into the light from the street lamp.

"Hey! Mr. Fenton!" She yelled, waving her free hand at the confused looking man down the street.

"Sa-am!" Danny moaned, trying to drag her back into the alley.

Too late.

Danny's dad turned around, noticing the two standing just a few blocks down from him.

He waved back and started jogging over. Danny gulped and doubled his efforts to pull Sam to safety. But she would have none of it, she was sure that the fire had caused Einzel to lose control on _all_ of her puppets. Besides, he looked like himself with his goofy jog, his stubby little legs rushing to keep up with the swing of his huge arms. Danny finally gave up trying to pull her back into the alley, instead stepping in front of her protectively, her hand still held firmly in his.

If Sam wasn't going to move, then he was going to stay and protect her, no matter what.

Realizing how worried Danny was, Sam tried to explain about the fire and how Tucker had been freed from Einzel's control. But Danny didn't hear her, he was too absorbed in his thoughts.

_I can take my dad, right?_ He thought as he tried to keep his knees from shaking, images of Dash and his friends easily beating up on him flashing through his mind. And to top it all off, his muscles were sore, his back ached, and his whole body felt like it was one giant bruise; thanks towhatever had been shot at him by his father. And now, he couldn't even go ghost.

What good was he without ghost powers?

He tried to get his frantic mind to remember what his mom had taught him, but all he could remember was what she had taught him as a ghost.

His dad was almost in front of Danny, his usual jolly grin on his face.

Danny looked up at his dad with his free hand clenched as Jack puffed up to the two.

_Don't be scared, you can do this. _Danny tightened his hand around Sam's, his palm sweaty. She had finally stopped trying to explain, figuring he'd realize it on his own soon enough. His dad finally caught his breath, looking down at his tense son.

"Hey Danny!" Jack raised his arm. Danny clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the blow. _You can do this, you can do this. _

"Do you know what part of the city this is?" Jack's booming voice asked, sounding confused.

_You can do thi- wait,_

"What?" Danny opened his eyes, looking up at his dad. He was rubbing the back of his neck, just like Danny did when he was nervous or confused, and looking down at the two of them with a sheepish grin.

"I can't seem to remember how I got here. All I remember is you leaving to go to Sam's, then it all turns into a sort of fuzzy blur- HEY!" Jack looked down at his son in sudden revelation. Danny backed up nervously, coming to stand side by side with Sam.

"This must be some evil plot by Walker!" (Jack loved that he now knew the names of some of the ghosts) "I bet he's afraid of my new invention I've been working on." He nodded down at his son knowingly and then began to ramble on about his new invention. Danny looked up at him in astonishment and then quickly cut him off.

"So, you're not overshadowed?"

"Why of course not, son! No ghost can overshadow me, Jack Fenton!" He said loudly. "Now, back to the invention. See? It would first paralyze the ghost by…." His dad gestured wildly with his hands, getting more excited as he got to his favorite part of the invention.

Danny smiled wryly. Yep, that was his dad all right. He glanced at Sam. She grinned in an 'I told you so,' sort of way.

"Uh, dad?" Danny interrupted his father once again. Jack looked down in mid sentence and stopped, a huge grin slowly spreading across his face. Danny swallowed his words and curiously followed his dad's gaze down to Sam's hand held tightly within his.

Sam and Danny both looked at each other, and then down at their hands in unison. Danny's eyes widened in horror as his face heated up and he dropped Sam's hand like it had burned him. Looking up at his dad's even wider grin, he tried to search for any subject that would stop him from the extremely embarrassing speech Danny knew his dad was about to give.

"Dad! Uh, ghu, ghosts! Behind you!" Danny pointed desperately behind his dad. But not even a threat of ghosts would distract Jack Fenton from this embarrassing moment.

Danny looked over at Sam in humiliation, but she didn't meet his gaze, apparently too interested in the sidewalk to even acknowledge him. He absently wondered if something was wrong, and was opening his mouth to ask her when his dad cut him off.

"It's about time you two got together! You know, your mother and I have been preparing for this moment for a long time. We even made matching ghost fighting outfits for you!" Danny smacked his hand to his face. _Just shoot me now. _

"We even saved videos of Danny as a kid to show-"

"Uh, Mr. Fenton?" Sam cut through. "This really isn't the time. Tucker's in trouble and we need to help him." Danny gave Sam a gratifying look, glad for the save. But, once again, she ignored him, looking pointedly at his dad instead.

Danny's shoulders slumped. Was Sam mad at him? What did he do? He shook his head and looked to his dad. Sam was right; Tucker needed help. He'd have to figure out what was wrong with Sam later.

"What?" His dad shouted. "So it is a ghost, isn't it?" He looked at Sam, an excited sparkle in his eye. He still hadn't had the chance to fight a real ghost. Sam nodded seriously, getting down to business.

"Yes, but this ghost is different. She can hypnotize people, and control them from a distance." Danny listened with as much interest as his dad; Sam hadn't had the chance to fully explain what had happened to him yet. "She hypnotized you, I think…" She looked at Danny at this point, he knew more about what had happened with his dad then she did. He sighed reluctantly, turning to his horrified dad and continuing to explain what the ghost had made him do.

"Yeah, you seemed different, and I guessed you had been overshadowed. But you hit me with some new invention, and it shorted out my powers."

"WHAT!" His dad roared, furious. Danny shrank back, never having seen his dad this mad.

"And, um… Then you, uh, chased us." He motioned to Sam. "Out of town, and then… I think I fell asleep." He said, looking at Sam in confusion. She nodded. It was her turn to tell the story.

"Then Tucker appeared, which was weird." Sam pointed at the dark forest. "Since we were in there. But he was really under Einzel's control. She must have hypnotized him when he was on his way to my house." By now, Jack's anger had simmered down to a determined look in his eye. Sam decided that that was all he or Danny really needed to know at this point, she'd tell the rest to Danny later. It just seemed too personal to tell his dad.

"Uh, so now Tucker is under her control and we need to find him."

"And it'd be nice if I could use my ghost powers." Danny piped up hopefully. Jack looked at his son.

"Well, I can help with the last part! No ghost can build an invention that I can't figure out! Is the invention still in the lab?" He asked Danny, and Danny nodded.

"Good, I can take it apart and figure out how to build a reverse ray!" He shouted, turning around. He started marching down the street, then stopped, looking around in confusion. Turning back around, heglanced at the two kids exchanging hopeful looks. Danny and Sam noticed him looking at them and returned confused stares.

"So, where are we?" He asked sheepishly.

* * *

After the two had told him what part of the city he was in, Jack had turned around and headed towards the Fenton house. He was still marching determinedly in front, his head bowed in concentration as he tried to figure out an invention that would help his son.

Danny slogged along behind, his eyes drooping and his legs feeling like lead. His mind was with Tucker, wondering how in the world he was going to pull off a rescue if he didn't have ghost powers.

Sam looked over at her friend, her gaze worried. He was falling behind, his slow, heavy steps no match for his dad's agitated march. She slowed down a little, waiting for Danny to catch up. He didn't even notice when he passed her, his tired gaze staring blankly at the sidewalk.

She watched him for a second, her mind in turmoil. She sighed. Making up her mind, she easily caught up with him.

"…Danny." She started off softly. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts as he looked over at her. She noticed large bags under his eyes. "Um…" She had wanted to ask him why he had dropped her hand when his dad had looked at them, wanted to know how he felt about her… But his tired gaze changed her mind.

"How are you doing?" She asked instead, her voice concerned. He grimaced.

"I'm tired." He said, rubbing his eyes. Looking back at Sam, he continued. "And I'm worried. I don't know how we're going to beat that ghost and get Tucker back."

"Here," She said, grabbing his arm and putting it over her shoulder, "You can lean on me." He gave her a gratifying smile, to tired to say anything.

"And don't worry about Einzel, she's not that hard." Sam started telling Danny how she had gotten away from her captor, and how Einzel's greatest physical weapon seemed to be a rock.

* * *

The streets turned into a blur, Sam's story sliding through Danny's mind. He leaned on her more heavily, his thoughts returning to the dark forest as his eyes slid down even farther.

Without Sam, he had been lost.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder more tightly and jerked his mind back to the present, trying to listen to Sam's story.

Her quiet voice was comforting, her shoulder soft. She had her arm around his waist, helping him along and reassuring him that she was there, that she wouldn't leave him.

Danny let his troubles slide away. As long as Sam was with him, he could deal with whatever Einzel threw at him.

His eyes slid down even farther. It had been a long day.

* * *

Sam turned the last corner, the Fenton house just a few more houses down. Jack had already disappeared inside, his mind focused solely on fixing what Einzel had made him do to his son.

She looked over at Danny, who was practically asleep on his feet. His eyes were closed and his head was down, his feet dragging slowly beneath him. Sam was practically carrying him along, now.

Sam looked up at the horizon as the sky turned a light gray. It was almost dawn, the two of them had been up all night.

_Has it really only been one night?_ Sam wondered dully. It seemed like she had been awake for ages. She tried not to think of her own bed, she still needed to save Tucker before she would even let herself think about sleeping.

…_Tucker…_

She looked back at Danny. There was no way that she was going to let him try and fight Einzel like this. She could handle it herself, all she needed was a lighter and the Fenton thermos.

Sam stepped up to the Fenton's door, avoiding the rigged doorbell, and swung the door open. She could already hear Jack hard at work down in the lab.

Stepping inside, with Danny still resting on her shoulder, she headed over to the nearest couch.

Danny needed to rest, she could handle everything else on her own.

* * *

(A/N) Aww, poor Danny falling asleep on his feet. Oh, and I hope Jack was still in character, he's kinda hard to write if there's not a ghost around.

(ObiQ) Aww, thanks! Heh heh, figuring out the motives for Einzel when I first started this was probably the most fun I've had. (MasterP) Mu ha ha! _Cough _Yes, well, I had to stop with the cliffies this chap. Isn't Einzel evil! Oh, I so love writing her! She's sorta kinda like Raistlin, if you happen to know who that is. Oh, and don't worry about the review. (Posh, suuuure it didn't. Heh, just kiddin. XD) Anyway, thanks! (MissM) I like the story about Aladdin, especially after watching Disney's version of it. And it really didn't take that long, but we did have a lot of homework. Anyway! I didn't leave ya with a cliff hanger this time! (Zizzy) Thanks! Heh, that's funny, I've done that before as well. Thanks again! (ilikedan) Aww, poor chair. Hee hee. Err, sorry about the slow update, blame my teacher and...er, well, my procrastination. Heh. Thanks for the review! (EnigP) Yeah, questions like 'what is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?' Which, of course, is 42! Heh. Nah, just simple questions about one of the main villains, and questions my crazy teacher is always telling us to ask when we read stuff. Yep. Holy crap, my english teacher has succeeded in brainwashing me! _shudders_ Moving on! Heh, Sam doesn't exchange witty banter, just Danny! XD Ha ha, rocks... Maybe it was... an onyx? (Crazy) Spend them well! And thanks for the review! (SleepW) Agreed, evil cats... Thanks! And no cliffy this time, I know you're so sad...

Whew, ok. Well, I'm going to try to keep updates fairly regular, but now I'll have practice every day after school starting Monday. (Yeah, the Monday there is no school. Darn it.) So, it's going to be hard. But I will try!

Reviews are very motivational, no joke. So, er, review!


	16. Chapter 16

Hey-o!

I'm back! And quiet sore and tired. But it's all good!

Here's... what is it now, chapter 16?

Yes, Chapter 16!

* * *

Sam and Danny stood in the den in Danny's house, arguing loudly to be heard over the noises of destruction coming up from the lab. Jack Fenton hadn't wasted any time and, from the sounds echoing up the stairs, was already dismantling the invention Einzel had used against his son. 

"Danny, you need to stay here and rest." Sam scolded, her worried gaze looking over her tired friend's form. "I'll go get Tucker back. With this thermos and a lighter, it shouldn't be too hard." Sam pushed Danny down onto the couch. "You'll fall asleep on your feet, you already did before."

Danny stubbornly stood up again. "No, I'm coming with you." He wasn't going to let Einzel have another chance to take Sam away from him.

He tried to look energetic, even though it had been a huge effort just to stand up off of the couch.

Sam saw right through him.

"Dan-"

"I'm coming with." He repeated firmly. Sam sighed, Danny could be so stubborn sometimes.

"Fine, here's the thermos, I'll keep the lighter."

Danny nodded his head, relieved Sam had given up without much of a fight; he didn't have much energy left and he didn't want to waste it arguing.

* * *

"She's gone." Sam stated, the first rays of the sun shinning though the deserted alley. Danny slumped against the brick wall. 

"What do we do now?" He asked, his sullen gaze staring blankly down the alley.

"We rest."

"And then…?"

Sam sighed, "Then we research Einzel."

* * *

It had been almost six hours since sunrise, and Jack was still working away in the lab, getting closer by the second to finishing his invention that would cure Danny. Sam paced around the kitchen impatiently. 

Everything Einzel had done fit together perfectly now, but that knowledge still didn't make Sam feel any less helpless.

While Danny was still fast asleep, Sam had gone online and looked up the name Einzel. Much to her surprise, a whole list of pages had come up, filled with rumors and speculations on where the ghost had come from and the limit of her powers. But what made Sam so nervous had not been the descriptions of Einzels hypnotic prowess over males, but rather, the thesis that she was controlled by a particular object.

There was someone else controlling Einzel's actions, telling her who to attack and when. And if that someone was who Sam thought it was…

She looked impatiently up the stairs towards Danny's room. He really did need his sleep, but he would know more about the object… and if her suspicions were correct… then they needed to take action.

Now.

Her mind made up, Sam dashed up the stairs.

"Daaaanny!" Sam barreled through his door, practically knocking it off it's hinges. Danny shot straight up, throwing his bed sheets everywhere.

"Wha…? S-Sam?" He stared around, his eyes wide. "What happened?"

Sam marched over, grabbed his hand, and dragged him out of bed.

"Time to get up!" She yelled in a falsely cheery voice. Danny groaned, rubbing his eyes and relaxing a bit.

"I have something to show you." She added in an undertone. This got Danny's attention, any sleep that had been in his eyes now gone. His mind immediately went to Tucker.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice apprehensive. Sam didn't say anything, instead sitting down at his computer and turning it on. She turned around while it booted up.

"I couldn't sleep long, I was too worried. So I went online and looked up Einzel." Sam turned around again, typing in "Paulina Fenton" for the password. It was rejected.

"Oh, heh…" Danny pushed Sam away, hiding the keyboard from her view while he typed in his new password. Sam raised her eyebrow at his back.

"There." He stepped back, letting Sam have the keyboard again. Sam stared at him for a second, her eyebrow still raised questioningly, but he purposely avoided her look. Sam shook her head, bringing her mind back to more pressing matters. She'd question Danny later.

She brought up the page she had found while Danny kneeled down beside her.

"Here, read this." Sam pointed at a particular line, a line she practically had memorized from the numerous times she had read it. Danny leaned forward, his face illuminated by the screen.

"Some believe that whoever holds this powerful artifact can control Einzel, making her do whatever they wish." He looked at Sam, confused.

"What artifact?" He asked. Her eyes shot to the line above the one Danny had just read. Danny followed her gaze, reading the line silently. His eyes widened.

"The Crown of Fire?" Danny sucked in his breath, his eyes narrowing. "Vlad!"

Sam nodded her head slowly, her suspicions confirmed. "That's what I was afraid of."

Danny stood up and started pacing the room, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"It must have been him that lured my mom away with a fake meeting, he wouldn't want to hurt her…" He paced for a while longer, thinking back over what had happened.

"I have to stop him." He said finally, looking determined. "He's gone too far this time." He glanced over at Sam. "Has my dad finished his invention, yet?" He asked hopefully. Sam shook her head.

"How long will that take your dad?" She asked. "Won't the effects of the blast wear off before he's finished?" Danny walked back to the computer and Sam.

"Well, when Skulker shot me the first time, it shorted out my powers even after a week had passed." Danny said, remembering his walk to Sam's house, and his guilt for leaving his dad alone.

"Einzel." Sam stated.

"What?" Danny tore his thoughts away from Vlad.

"That was really Einzel controlling Skulker."

"Oh… really?" He asked, looking at her. She nodded. "And my dad…?"

"Also her." Sam said, suddenly realizing something. _That's why Jack had to chase us on foot, he wasn't possessed, he was hypnotized. _

Sam absently rubbed the bruise the size of a rock on the back of her head, pondering. She noticed Danny looking at her, silently asking her to continue. She did.

"She caused everything, hypnotizing people and controlling them while she hid safely in her alley. Your exposure, your father, Tucker's betrayal…me." Danny glanced at her when she said the last part, then looked quickly back at the computer.

"Uh, Sam?" He said softly. She looked at him, her hands fidgeting nervously in her lap.

"…yeah?" She asked quietly, feeling guilty about not realizing that Tucker had been hypnotized, for walking right into Einzel's trap, for being so _…so stupid! _Sam yelled at herself. _Come on, Sam! Tucker just happened to stumble upon us, in the middle of the forest, at night! _

"Sam, I-I should have…" Danny choked on his words, scrambling to find the right thing to say. Sam laid a hand on his arm, stopping him. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"Danny, don't worry about it." She said, guessing that he had been about to apologize for not being able to help. "I can take care of myself." She added with a hint of pride, giving Danny a warm smile.

"Yeah, but I should have saved you!" Danny burst out, angry at himself. "I should have helped you! This is my fight, my responsibility! But I fell for her trap, I believed that you were gone."

"Dann-" She started, but he interrupted her, his voice soft but filled with emotion.

"Sam, I could have lost you." Danny looked at her pleadingly, his eyes reflecting the fear he had felt. "I thought I already had."

Sam's voice caught in her throat; what was she supposed to say to that?

Their little moment was interrupted by Danny's dad bursting through the already beaten door.

"Finished!" He yelled, holding up a green device proudly. Danny nervously straightened his shirt, trying to regain his dignity after practically jumping through the ceiling. Sam tried not to grin. Jack continued, oblivious as always.

"This little baby will cure you from whatever curse that ghost shot you with." Without waiting for a reply, Jack aimed the green fork like device at Danny, shooting him with a green blast of electricity.

Danny gasped, the green energy working it's way through his body. His felt his energy return in the wake of the green energy's tingling, and the familiar security of his powers reappeared in the back of his mind. He looked at his dad in astonishment.

His dad just grinned.

Holding his breath, Danny held up his arms.

"Going ghost!"

The room flashed white, two rings engulfing Danny.

Sam smiled in pure relief while Jack grinned proudly.

The rings disappeared, the light display gone. Danny Phantom stood before them, looking as energetic and determined as ever. He held up his white-gloved hand, looking it over. He easily called up a ball of green fire in his palm.

Danny grinned evilly, his fist clenching.

"Here I come, Vlad."

* * *

A/N: If these last two chapters bored you, then hopefully the next chapter will make up for it. …especially if you like action. Oh, and don't worry, I didn't forget about Tucker. 

(Angel) Thanks! (Conan) Hmm, I never really thought about her family, just about before and then how she died. Ahh, I love those books so much! Especially when Tas is narrating, heh, he's my fav. (MasterP) Thanks! I need serious tutoring on romance writing, my guy friends are getting tired of all the embarrassing questions I keep asking them. Like, "What would you do if...?" They usually don't answer, but instead get all embarrassed and insanely interested in the game they're playing, which usually gives me my answer anyway! _snickers_ I'm glad I got Danny's dad down! (MissM) Yeah, Disney did do a good job, especially getting Robin Williams to do Genies voice! Hmm, I haven't seen the show choir version... Is it good? (ObiQ) I gotta say, I love Vlad. He's probably the best villlian I've ever seen/read. And now you know her motives! Oh, and thanks...again! (EnigP) Er, well, yeah...kinda the same with this chapter... but NEXT chapter! Oh man, now that was fun to write! And get better soon! Ach, man, that thing has been circling around my school, but I have avoided it so far. _dodges all of my sick friends' coughs _(SleepW) For Track, of course! Heh, crazy people who DON'T like to run, what is wrong with you? Heh heh...heh... Hey, has Tennis started yet? Thanks, btw! (Crazy) Thanks! (CaptainD) Thanks! Oh, and I'll try... but you'll probably only see that in Vlad in the next story.

Oh yeah, this chapter is short on purpose. I was writing this and the next chapter as one whole chapter, which just kept going and going… So I cut it short there. The good news? I pretty much have the next chapter finished, I just have to go through and fix the billions of spelling mistakes. If I have enough time, I might even be able to post it tomorrow! (It will be late at night, though, as usual.) But at the latest, it will be up by next weekend. I promise.

Reviews are as amazing as running! (Aww, c'mon, you know that's pretty darn amazing.)


	17. Chapter 17

It wouldn't let me post on Sunday, I swear! Ah, but anyway, I still posted before the end of this weekend, just like I promised.

Characters, not mine!

So, here's Chapter 17!

* * *

Danny snapped his cell phone shut, having just made a very important call. He continued speeding through the Ghost Zone, headed towards Vlad's portal while he tucked his phone away into a very small, hidden pocket. Who knew he would get service in the Ghost Zone?

Sam and his dad were trying to track down Einzel and Tucker, his dad protected from Einzel by a picture of Maddie tucked away in his jumpsuit. Danny reminded himself that he had nothing to be afraid of, they could both take care of themselves. But he still couldn't help but worry.

His mind was brought abruptly back to his own upcoming fight, the giant football covering Vlad's portal appearing in the distance. He couldn't help but smirk at the football again; for someone who usually pulled the strings from the background, Vlad sure could be obvious sometimes.

Pushing the giant football aside, Danny stepped through the portal, his eyes glowing fiercely.

He looked around the sinister lab, his every muscle tense. It was dark and eerily silent, the only light the faint glow from the portal. There were experiments scattered everywhere, the dim light only showing a soft green glow reflecting off of glass beakers and the occasional ecto-weapon. There was even the faint glow over a doorway; a passage into the very stomach of his arch-enemy's domain. He couldn't spot the Crown of Fire, Vlad probably had it hidden somewhere safe. The lab was filled with loads of things, but no living (or dead) being came across Danny's gaze. Vlad was no where in sight.

Danny moved on.

Slowly climbing up the dark stairs to the trap door, his hands cold and clammy and his heart pounding in his ears, he tried to prepare himself for the hardest fight of his life, because this time, he knew he only had himself to rely upon.

He pushed the trap door aside, shielding his eyes from the sudden bright light.

"Ah, young Daniel. What brings you to my humble abode?" a voice asked, feigning innocence. Danny looked around the giant study, his eyes finally landing on Vlad smirking at him over a newspaper. (The headline read, "Strange Rumors from Amity Park.") He sat relaxed in a leather chair in the right corner of the room, unafraid of Danny's hateful glare.

"This time, Vlad, you've gone too far." Danny growled, clenching his hands at his side. The trap door thudded closed behind him.

Vlad sneered. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

Danny's eyes narrowed and, without thinking, he shot a green blast straight at Vlad. The millionaire just sat calmly, apparently too interested in reading the paper to bother with matters like green balls of energy hurtling towards him. Danny's eyes widened when the blast hit, rattling the floor and sending up a cloud of dust and debris.

…_that was easy. _

But then the dust cleared, showing Vlad standing over what used to be his leather chair. He turned tangible again, dust raining down on his clean suit.

"Ah, so you came here for a fight." Vlad calmly brushed off the remnants of his chair while Danny fumed in the background, trying to reign in his temper. An evil grin suddenly spread across the older halfa's face, and the room flashed black as he turned into his ghost half. "Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint you, son."

"Just what I was hoping for." Danny muttered before shooting straight at Vlad, green energy racing across his hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flash but he ignored it, his eyes narrowed on his enemy right in front of him.

Right when his hand was inches from Vlad's frustratingly calm face, another hand caught him from behind.

Danny choked, his hand struggling against the mysterious grip that held him away from his enemy. A grin spread across Vlad's face.

"You're forgetting what I can do, Daniel." Vlad chided before Danny was thrown backwards, connecting painfully with the giant bookshelf that lined the walls. He looked up, seeing two Vlads smirking at him from the other side of the room.

"Oh, right." Danny mummered, shielding his eyes as another flash emanated from Vlad, another grinning duplicate appearing.

Danny thought about trying that trick again, but then an image of him with five heads and the Vlads choking with laughter in the background entered his mind. Yeah, maybe that wasn't such a great idea.

Danny stood up nervously, the two clones moving around him, trapping him in the middle. Two more clones appeared, flanking the real Vlad like a shield. Danny growled, his eyes darting around.

His tense body suddenly relaxed, a grin spreading across his face. He might not be able to pull off that little stunt, but he did, however, have one trick up his sleeve that Vlad knew nothing of.

Danny leapt into the air and soared around the multiple Vlads, making sure they were all in front of him.

"Come and get me, cat-lover!" He taunted, sticking out his tongue while he flew.

The center Vlad grinned, his clones rushing towards Danny with a yell.

_Perfect. _

Danny opened his mouth, mentally calming himself like his mom had taught, and drew in a deep breath.

_Here's for everything, Vlad._

Danny let loose, his ghostly wail shaking the ground and tossing the multiple Vlads back against the wall. Pieces of the ceiling rained down, pelting the many duplicates, surprise etched on each of their faces as, one by one, they disappeared. The room began to fall apart, the foundation shaken to bits.

Danny held on a little bit longer, feeling his hands start to shake as he poured all of his energy into his voice. He faltered, almost falling to his knees as the ground continued to shake violently beneath him.

His vision starting to swim, Danny saw the last clone disappear, leaving only the original.

Danny let his voice die, breathing heavily as he focused his bleary eyes on his remaining opponent.

Vlad stood surrounded by the remains of his once orderly room, debris and torn books littering the ground where he stood, shocked. He stared at Danny with his eyes wide, his hair swept back from the sheer force, his clothes tattered and his cape ripped right off of his shoulders.

Collecting himself, Vlad regarded Danny with a new look of respect in his eyes.

"So… learned a new trick have you?"

Danny glared at Vlad, his whole body shaking from the effort of standing. Thanks to some miracle, or his mom's training, he had managed to stay in his ghost form.

"I want you… to stay out… of my life… Vlad." Danny growled, his voice shaking.

"I'm afraid I won't do that, Daniel." Vlad said, dusting himself off. Danny noticed that, however calm Vlad seemed, he still kept wary eyes on Danny.

"I won't take no for an answer, Vlad." He took a deep breath. "And this time, there will be no truce. I want you to surrender."

Vlad laughed.

"And what makes you think that I would surrender to you?" He cackled, shooting Danny an amused look. "You learn one new trick and then expect me to lay down and surrender to you?" He asked, incredulous. He flicked the last piece of his broken room off his shoulder. "I'm not beaten yet, Daniel."

"Yet." Danny muttered. Vlad's face darkened, his red eyes glowing eerily.

Danny hoped desperately that Vlad was too weak to try duplicating himself again, because he knew he wouldn't be able to pull off his wail in the state he was in.

He stiffened, narrowing his eyes angrily as Vlad smirked at him.

"Ready, my young counterpart?" Without waiting for an answer, Vlad shot forward, his fists glowing an angry red.

Danny stepped back, desperately trying to calm his racing heart as his instincts took control. He reached within himself, grabbing a portion of the small amount of energy he had left and throwing it around him to create a vibrant green shield.

Red light exploded, washing over his shield. Danny's body shook with the impact, his energy fading as Vlad threw another powerful blast. Red cracks forked through the green shield protecting Danny. He desperately held on, his eyes wide. Before he could even catch his breath, he saw a dark green blur swing it's arm back once more, lighting up with red energy. Danny closed his eyes, bracing himself.

Pain rocked through his tired body and his shield shattered, torn apart by red energy.

He stepped back fearfully as Vlad appeared in front of him, grinning. In the blink of an eye, Danny was flying backwards through the air, his mind screaming.

Getting control of himself, Danny used his momentum and retreated through the floor into Vlad's medieval style dungeons, desperately trying to organize his chaotic mind. Dark stone hallways turned into a dark blur as he raced through the very bottom of Vlad's castle, his glowing green eyes acting as a flashlight.

"Running away already, Daniel?" Vlad's haughty voice chased him, "I must say, I'm somewhat disappointed." Danny looked behind him fearfully as he flew through the dark dungeons of Vlad's castle, seeing red eyes gaining on him. _Running away already?_

Danny's expression hardened and he stopped suddenly, his fist swinging around, green fire erupting on his hand.

Vlad threw out his hand, easily catching Danny's arm with his fist inches from Vlad's face. Vlad smirked, not realizing he had left himself wide open.

Danny grunted as his foot sliced forward, his heel connecting with Vlad's stomach. Vlad gasped, letting go of Danny's hand and doubling over in pain.

_That was for exposing me. _Danny thought as he clasped his hands together, swinging them up over his head. _And this is for turning my dad against me! _Danny brought his hands down towards Vlad's bent over form.

Vlad wasn't out yet, however, as he looked up and quickly created a shield around himself. Danny's hands collided painfully with red energy, which disappeared as two red blasts shot out towards Danny.

_Duck! _Danny's mind screamed at him. But his sore muscles reacted too slow.

Searing pain raced through his body and Danny was flung backwards from the blasts. His body rammed into a wall, a gasp escaping as he slid to the bottom. He looked up to see a black gloved fist flying towards him.

Danny phased backwards through the wall, looking down in amazement as an indent of Vlad's fist appeared in the stone.

His enemy phased through the wall, rubbing his hand as Danny backed up cautiously.

"Very good, Daniel. Have you been training?" Vlad asked casually, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, my mom's been teaching me." Danny said, his voice dark.

"…ah." Vlad said, his face unreadable. Before Danny could react, he was thrown off of his feet by a blast of crackling red energy.

Standing up shakily, Danny glared hatefully up at Vlad standing over him.

"Angry that my mom still refuses you?" He growled. Vlad's eyes narrowed as he kicked Danny in the stomach.

Danny doubled over, gasping. _Ok, maybe saying that last part wasn't such a good idea. _He thought, his teeth clenched as fire raced through his stomach.

"Give up yet, Daniel?"

"Never." Danny spat. He phased through the floor, moving over till he was underneath Vlad. Danny shot out, his fist glowing green as he knocked Vlad into the air. He charged up a green fireball, throwing it at his enemy.

Vlad turned around in midair, his hand arching around and knocking the blast back towards Danny.

Danny's eyes widened, his mind throwing up a shield on pure instinct. Green connected with green, and to Danny's amazement, he felt his shield absorb his energy back into himself. _Well, that's nice to know. _

His fierce green eyes focused on Vlad as his arch-enemy angled his body towards Danny's shield, his eyes leaving red streaks through the air while he dove. Danny poured more energy into the shield, preparing himself.

At the last second, Vlad switched directions, diving into the floor. Danny looked down at his feet.

He only got out "Oh, cra-" before his vision was obscured by Vlad's fist.

Danny flew through the air, screaming, his shield disappearing with his broken concentration.

Catching himself, he shook his head, trying to clear the ringing in his ears. Danny glanced around nervously, trying to find Vlad. He jerked around, feeling eyes on his back. The only thing behind him was thin air. _Where is he! _He wondered, his heart racing, his narrowed eyes continuing to search through the thick darkness.

"Looking for me, Daniel?" Danny spun around, his fists raised.

No one was there.

"Why don't you come out and fight, Vlad. Or are you too afraid?" Vlad's chuckle echoed around Danny, bouncing off the walls and seeming to come from every direction. Every muscle in Danny's body was tensed, waiting for an attack.

But none came. Instead, Vlad's voice continued.

"Tell me, Daniel, how did you figure out that I was behind Einzel's attacks?" Danny growled, he didn't want to talk. He wanted to fight!

He continued to look around, trying to trace Vlad's voice when he started talking again.

"I do have to give you some credit, son. I was surprised you survived at all. Sam's betrayal affected you more then I had guessed it would." Danny's eyes shone fiercely, giving the dark, dank walls an eerie green highlight.

"She didn't betray me, she was the one who saved me." Danny's hatred filled voice continued. "You're the one who _kidnapped _her."

"Why, I would never do such a horrid thing! Einzel, however…" Vlad let his sentence hang, his voice amused.

"COME OUT AND FIGHT, VLAD!" Danny screamed. Losing control, he started blasting the walls around him, hoping to hit Vlad's disembodied voice. Dust rained down on Danny, his blasts shaking the very foundations of the castle. Danny growled, powering up another blast and flinging it at the wall.

The dust finally cleared, leaving Danny panting for breath.

But still no Vlad.

Danny calmed himself down. Looking around the empty hallway, a sudden look of disgust crossed his features. _He's just taunting me. It's all part of his sick game. _Danny looked around at the holes in the wall, green smoke still trailing from all of them.

_No, that's not it…_

"You really must watch that temper of yours." Vlad snickered. Danny ignored him, his eyes fixed on the gaping holes he had created.

_He's trying to get me to waste my energy… _

Danny looked around at the destruction surrounding him, his eyes wide in astonishment.

_Which means…_

"…You're afraid of me, aren't you." It was a statement, not a question.

Only silence answered him.

* * *

Heh, sorry for the (sort of) cliffy there, but I had this last part written since like the very beginning, and I knew I was going to end the chapter there. So, yeah.

Aahhh! I loved writing that!

Anyway...

(Conan) Thanks! I hope you enjoy it all the way to the end. (SleepW) It is! Heh heh, that's a good thing, right? And I'm guessing the end of this chapter did the same... Thank you, as always! (Crazy) Oh, heh, he doesn't really explain it, yet... if ya have questions, just ask. (MissM) Dude, sweet! Nice job on the win! Anyway, thanks! And Vlad's gonna be harder to take down than Danny originally thought, heh heh. (EnigP) Ha! Y'know, I was listening to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" while I was typing up this chappy. Yeah, Vlad does have a lot of stuff. I've always hoped that he's concocting some evil plan that would turn into an hour long episode of, well, amazingness. Pshh, to bad the series is coming to an end. Anyway, yay yayness! And thankies! (CentaurG) Thank you! I'm glad ya like it so far! (ObiQ) Yeah, I've been wondering about that, too. I mean, when Valerie first went in she had absolutely no idea what was going on till DP explained everything… My only guess is that "scientists" like Jack and Maddie give their findings to the press, or something like that. Ahh, what really bothers me is how humans phase through everything _except for the floor_ in the ghost zone. Blegh, anyway... (StrLtR0se) Oh, crap. I sorta didn't realize that... Hmm, I mean, I live pretty close to Columbine, but I always assumed that they kept the press away because they were afraid of the bombs that were still inside. I never really thought about the press afterwards... the rest traveled by mouth. I'm glad you mentioned that, I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Ok, I am really trying to get these updates up as fast as I can. But to tell you the truth, I have no idea when I'll be able to get the next chapter up. Maybe during Spring Break? (That's next week for me!) I'll definitely try to get it up then or even before that, but I can't promise this time.

Oh yeah! I had, uh, well... completely forgotten about that one picture I had started working on for the chapter when Danny and Sam run away from Jack. But then I remembered it and finished it! You should look at it, I'm quite proud of how it turned out. (Yay shameless promotion!) Anyway, here's the address: http/ www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 30145987 / Or, if you're lazy like me, I have an actual link posted in my profile.

Review!


	18. Chapter 18

Ahh! I am sorry it took me so long to update this. If you actually want to know why it took me so long, you can ask. But I think you've waited long enough for this chapter, so without any more wait (but one more apology, SORRY!) here's chapter 18.

(Although I do suggest rereading at least the very last part of the previous chapter.)

* * *

Danny promised himself he would stay calm, especially now that he finally had an advantage; he knew his opponent respected him, no… 

Feared him.

Hope started to return to Danny and he began to look around calmly, floating through the dark hallways in the very stomach of his archenemies home.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are, Vlad." He grinned as he said this, trying to imagine Vlad cowering in fear in some corner. Ok, so maybe that wouldn't happen, but he could dream, right?

No haughty voice answered him. Danny frowned, wondering what to do. Well, if Vlad wasn't going to come out and fight him, he might as well take advantage of that. Danny grimaced, just wanting to get this over with and get back to his family and friends. He quickly turned around and headed towards where he thought Vlad's lab was.

While he wandered the dark passages of Vlad's dungeons, he couldn't shake the persistent feeling that someone was watching him.

One guess as to who that would be.

Shaking off the annoying feeling, he continued on down the hall, trying hard to fight the need to look around the dark hallways nervously. _Ahh, where is Vlad hiding himself? _He ran a nervous hand over his eyes before calming himself.

He'd draw Vlad out…

When Danny finally found the lab, he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when his eyes landed on all of the fragile equipment. His gaze stopped on the portal. He'd have to save that for the return trip.

Soon, crashes echoed around the millionaire's mansion.

"It seems I have underestimated you once again, young Daniel." Danny spun around, a big and very intricate gizmo held over his head. (Danny thought it looked like a washing machine that had about 20 too many buttons.) A corny grin spread across his face when he saw Vlad glaring at him from a dark corner, his arms crossed over his chest and his jumpsuit still tattered.

"It's about time you showed your face Vlad…" Danny's eyes wandered down to Vlad's crossed arms, "Trying to hide your yellow belly?" He asked with the same grin.

Vlad scowled, letting his arms drop to his sides.

"You know, I rather liked my lab the way it was," He said with an ever suffering sigh.

"My dad's lab is so much better." Danny taunted, watching Vlad's expression sour. Danny's arms were starting to shake, still holding the giant …_thing _over his head. "My mom definitely loves it, she's down there with him all the time." Danny finished with a cheeky grin at Vlad.

It was just too much, Vlad couldn't take any more. With a yell, he was suddenly rushing at Danny.

Danny waited with the device still over his head, measuring the distance until…

CLANG! The metallic sound resounded around the lab as Vlad slide down the side of the gizmo, clutching his nose. Danny, now intangible, hid inside, trying to figure out what to do next. His plan had worked, Vlad was here, stunned at the moment, but now what? His head popped up out of the top, his gaze finding his opponent.

_One more second and I could have caught him underneath this. _Danny realized nervously. It's not like he wanted to _kill _Vlad, he thought with a shudder. Besides, he had something else in mind for his arch enemy.

Danny's eyes widened, searching for a clock. He found one, luckily unharmed, hanging near the portal. _Good, _Danny sighed, he still had time to pull off his plan.

He glared down at Vlad just as the millionaire looked hatefully up at him.

"Ever heard of karma, Vlad?" Danny asked before swinging his leg out of the metal gizmo and into Vlad's stomach. As Vlad doubled over, Danny flew out and searched for that oh-so familiar sinister device he had spotted earlier.

Vlad finally caught his breath and looked up just in time to see two white boots float over and stop right above him. Danny held the prototype sinister weapon that had been used against him by his dad, and now turned it towards Vlad as he looked up.

"Pay back time." Danny muttered, and pulled the trigger.

Vlad didn't even flinch when the black lightning raced across his body, but instead held up his arms in defeat. Now, once he turned human again, he wouldn't be able to turn back. Danny hoped that it also shut down most of Vlad's ghost powers.

"I surrender, Daniel, you win." He sighed, as if he had just seen a bothersome stain on the carpet, "I will stay out of your life from here on."

Danny did a double-take, the gun still held loosely in his hand.

"…really?" He stared at Vlad, who was still in his ghost form. How many of Vlad's powers still worked? Since he withstood the Specter Deflector belt and could still fight Danny, did that mean he could stand a blast from this new weapon?

"Why of course." Vlad shrugged. "You are obviously stronger then me," he seemed to flinch while saying this, his face darkening in displeasure. "And if I am without ghost powers…" He shrugged.

Danny stared at Vlad, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He may be stronger then Vlad, but his older counterpart still had his wits about him. Vlad was calculating, he was smart, and he had an ego to match Jack Fenton's. There was no way he would lay down and surrender without fighting until every last possibility was tried and failed.

Danny kept the gun pointed at Vlad, although he had no idea what good it would do now.

"You have something planned." Danny accused.

Vlad's cunning eyes turned innocent.

"Me?" He asked, his voice sickly sweet.

Danny frowned; he should have seen that coming.

He kept his face unreadable, hopefully the perfect picture of calmness while on the inside his panicking mind was running a million miles an hour. What was Vlad planning? Danny's muscles strongly reminded him that he wasn't prepared for another fight; his eyelids were getting heavier by the second and nothing sounded better right now then a soft, fluffy pillow. He knew with dread that he wouldn't be able to fight Vlad off if his arch-enemy did manage to pull something. He swallowed hard.

His mind finally slowed down, two options remaining; go along with Vlad's surrender and stay on guard, or stick to his earlier plan.

His eyes darted around. Could he really pull this off? Or should he trust Vlad. Danny looked at Vlad's expression, his eyes wide in innocence but a small smirk twisting his face.

He'd stick to his earlier plan.

Danny tensed for a second, solidifying his plan in his mind, and then dropped the gun and shot towards Vlad, his muscles complaining as he swung his fist forward.

Vlad backed up and easily dodged Danny's fist, as usual.

_Good. _Danny thought, trying to hide his grin.

"I won't fall for your tricks anymore!" He shouted, his fist sweeping towards Vlad's calm face. His enemy stepped backwards, his eyes calculating.

_This might just work_. Danny took another wide swing, forcing Vlad back again. Vlad's eyebrow swept up at Danny's aim.

_Crap, I have to keep him distracted so he doesn't get suspicious. _Danny scrambled for something to say.

"You felonious fiend…!" _Wait, no. That'll make him even more suspicious… …where did that come from anyway? _Danny shook his head, pulling his thoughts together while Vlad regarded him with a curious look. _Probably wondering if I'm going insane. _Danny thought with a sinking feeling.

"Why did you do all of this, Vlad?" Danny quickly jumped subjects. "You know I would never join you." Danny took another wild swing and Vlad, surprised, took another step back, phasing through the wall of the lab.

Danny stared at the wall for a second, a warning going off in the back of his head. With dawning realization, he put up a shield and walked through the wall.

Before he made it out of the wall he felt something collide with his shield.

Fully stepping out, Danny saw Vlad shuffling back, rubbing his bruised hand.

"Very well, Daniel." Vlad seemed a little put out. Danny hid his grin, proud of himself for guessing Vlad's next move.

"You want to know why I did all of this? It's quite simple, really." Vlad grinned at Danny. Feeling uneasy, he took another swing at Vlad, forcing him backwards and giving himself more room. Vlad surveyed Danny with an air of annoyance before continuing:

"After your friends abandoned you," Danny grimaced, taking another swing which Vlad easily dodged. "Your family left you, and the entire town turned against you, all thanks to Einzel, as your only remaining ally I would have made you an offer you wouldn't be able to refuse-"

"Lemme guess… join you?" Danny interrupted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Vlad grinned. "Exactly. Either that or endure painful experiments under governmental supervision, after Einzel had convinced them that you were not to be trusted, with some help by you, of course."

"You were going to frame me, in front of the entire world?" Danny shuddered at the thought; the whole world against him, his only ally being Vlad…

"And once I had won you over," Vlad continued, his voice triumphant, "your mom would have been easily swayed," Vlad took another step back, Danny's furious swing ripping through the air where Vlad used to stand. "And then… Then I would have had the perfect family." Vlad stopped, a far off look on his face.

Danny snorted. "You really should try for that cat, it would do you good."

Vlad's face darkened. Danny took the opportunity and charged up both of his hands, combining the energy into a gigantic green ball and throwing it towards Vlad.

As Vlad flew down the hallway, Danny doubled over, panting. His entire body ached, and he knew with dire certainty that he wouldn't be able to maintain his ghost form for much longer. He had to be more careful with what little energy he had left, and he had to hurry.

Finally catching his breath, he picked up his tired legs and stumbled towards the smoking green lump that was Vlad.

The millionaire struggled to stand up just as Danny approached him, his green eyes lighting on the beaten older halfa.

"What, no minions to call on to do your dirty work?" Danny asked sarcastically.

"No," Vlad sighed remorsefully. "They're all posted in Amity Park." A quick feeling of panic sank into his stomach when he realized what Vlad had said. _Tucker! _He almost turned around, ready to fly back and help his friend. After a short internal struggle, he brushed his panic away; Sam and his dad would take care of it. Tucker would be alright.

Right now he had to focus on Vlad.

Vlad's red eyes narrowed in concentration as he shakily stood up. _He must be struggling to stay in ghost mode, I'll have to be more careful if I want to pull this off. _Danny thought nervously, his eyes studying Vlad as he reached his full height.

"What are you going to do to me, Daniel?" Vlad finally seemed to regain his composure, and he turned his full attention towards Danny. "Or are we just going to keep talking while you throw horribly aimed punches at me?"

Danny hid his surprise with a grin. Vlad had no clue what was going on.

"My aim's getting better." He avoided the subject while he tried to create a mental map of the dungeons. If he was correct (_Oh please let me be right!_) then the wall behind him should-

"Even without ghost powers, I really have nothing to fear from you, Daniel. I'm quite disappointed." Vlad's smug voice interrupted Danny's thoughts.

_Oh, that's it. _Danny clenched his fist, his eyes glowing green. _I'll just hit him and hope this is the right wall! _

Danny charged forward and tackled a surprised Vlad. Both of their bodies tingled, intangibility washing over both of them and easily phasing them through the wall. Danny held onto Vlad's torn shirt and flew through the wall up through the ground, finally breaking through dirt into the front lawn.

An explosion of sound met their ears, and they both looked around blindly, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight.

"Danny Phantom!"

"It seems that Danny Phantom is currently battling some other ghost-"

"This is Channel Nine News, bringing you all the ghost action!"

Danny looked over at the confused Vlad, his eyes still stinging slightly from the light. They were surrounded by cameras and reporters in fancy suits rushing towards them, mikes held out in front as questions fell from their mouths.

All Vlad could do was gape at Danny, the front of his jumpsuit still held in his hand.

"See, I had a plan, too, Vlad." Danny let himself smile in satisfaction. "I called several news crews before I got here, telling them to be on Vlad Master's property at 5:00 if they wanted an interview with the halfa." Vlad's eyes narrowed in anger, a slight hint of admiration on his features.

"Say cheese for the cameras, Vlad Masters." Danny took out the Plasmius Maximus he had stolen and jammed it into Vlad's chest. All the reporters stopped in their tracks, their jobs forgotten, and watched as red sparks flew from Vlad's body. Satisfied, Danny pocketed the device and stepped back.

A giant hush washed through the crowd as two black rings appeared, slowly traveling up and down the stunned millionaires body. Whispers raced across the crowd as Vlad's human face appeared, his features frozen in shock.

It was all caught on tape. Almost every local and some international news crews had caught Vlad Plasmius turn into Vlad Masters. It was undeniable proof that half human half ghost hybrids existed.

And the wealthy Vlad Masters was one of them.

Vlad silently turned around, his white tux torn and beaten, his eyes wide, and stared at all of the cameras that were pointed at him. He backed up, feeling the solid wall behind him, easily trapping him. Some of the reporters began to regain their wits, approaching the millionaire and holding out their mike.

"Vlad… Masters?" A wide eyed reported asked timidly, trusty camera peeking around her shoulder.

Vlad stuttered, then turned angrily around to where Danny had been standing.

From above, Danny watched Vlad look around for him nervously before slowly turning back to the reporters. After he had been sure Vlad was human, he had turned invisible so that he wouldn't steal any of Vlad's attention. The assault of noise was back, and the crowd of cameras had already swallowed up Vlad.

He grinned, watching the scene from above, and let himself savor the thought for a while.

He, Danny Phantom, had finally defeated Vlad. Not just come to a standstill, hadn't retreated, he had won.

He had beaten Vlad.

With a smile on his lips, he flew back towards the portal, imagining his friends and his family waiting for him back home.

Now, for the first time in a long while, the future looked bright for Danny Phantom.

* * *

A/N: First of all, trivia! If you didn't remember, the Plasmius Maximus is from Maternal Instincts, and it forces them out of ghost mode for, uh, three hours? Or something like that… And the Specter Deflectorbelt thing, which is from the same episode,does sortof the same thing...except it hurts.Oh, and yes, I know, Einzel is still out there, but I still have one chapter left to finish up. And I probably can't apologize enough for my way delayed chapter, but I'm going to apologize again anyway. I'M SOOOOO SORRYYYYYY! I knew it would take longer, but I didn't think it'd take this long! 

But, behold! I now have a computer that ALWAYS works! I didn't lose very many files in the process, and, heh, well I hung out with a lot of my friends for maybe the last time before I move away. So at least I'M happy, right! (dodges thrown fruit)

Anyway, I still can't get my e-mail account to work on my new computer, and my internet is still acting funky, so I hope you don't mind if I skip the replies this time. (Most of you probably won't remember what you wrote, anyway!) I will try to update sooner, but I can't promise, as I still have yet to move and be introduced to college life (and one of the biggest cities in the U.S. …eep!)

I hope the chapter was at least somewhat worth the wait! (feels guilty)

Yes, well, now I think I'm done rambling. Til' next time!


End file.
